PKM Rangers: Rise of the Dark Gems
by Shot Knight
Summary: When a terrorist organization called the Dark Gems will stop at nothing to kidnap May Birch and her daughter Sarah, the only person that can save them is May's ex-husband, Agent 1076. But how can a man who lost everything become a hero strong enough to save them? His transformation into the Golden Ranger marks the beginning of an epic journey to reunite his family. AdvanceShipping.
1. Morph 1

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. This story, _PKM Rangers_, began when I was fifteen years old and unsure of the direction of my life. Having read a lot of fan-fiction on the Internet, it was my intent when writing this story to attempt new things in what a writer could do with a relationship story and a fan-fiction story. Whether I succeed or not depends entirely on your tastes, of course, and it is true there is no single original thought left in the world today. But it is my hope that in the years I have been writing and rewriting this story there exists some creativity that entertains you, as that is always my intent. At the age of twenty-three, one might think it a good idea to give up on the joys that captivated my childhood, but I always swear to be a fan of Power Rangers and Pokemon until the day I die. Despite my frequent pauses in writing this story (real life has become more difficult with each passing year) it is my intent that this story is one day completed, and I hope you join me on my journey to finish it.

This story was originally **M**-rated, as it began at a time in my life when I was immature and wanted to shock people. This updated version is **T**-rated for violent scenes and some sexual situations. A great deal of effort has been placed into this change, so if you have the time try to drop me a review letting me know if my changes were worth it. The ages for the (current) primary characters of the story are as follows:

**Agent 1078:** 28

**May Birch:** 28

**Sarah Birch:** 5

**Max Birch:** 25

**Brock Harrison:** 33

And without further ado, enjoy...

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**Morph One: The Man From Nowhere**

The dark man walked towards the towering building, his face shrouded in shadows. No one stopped him, no one asked directions, no one interfered in the least as he walked forward, interested only in the convention center in front of him. His dark attention was firmly fixed on the giant double-doors before him. Hands in his pockets, he slugged forward, his shoulders shifting from side to side as he swayed. He barely noticed the other creature standing on his shoulder, a quiet yellow mouse about the size of a basketball that took in the center through its beady little eyes, its nose checking the scents of the venders and the wares inside. The man didn't notice, and pulled one gloved hand out of his pocket, slamming his palm against the clear glass door, and hot air blasted at him, an alteration from the cold, crisp air of the January morning. Shrugging off the new heat, the man walked into the center, the door falling back after him as he relieved the tension that his hand exerted, and placed his hand back in the pockets of his dark pants.

It had been a while since he had stopped traveling, since he had stopped his journeys and explorations with his friends. He had pursued a different goal in life than Max or Brock. He had found another path, separate from Misty or Tracey. They had all done what they had wanted with their lives, and were still doing it. Dawn, after all, hadn't fallen from light. She was a coordinator now, like another, certain someone that the dark man knew. It had been a while since he had seen Brock, Max, even Gary. It had been a while since he had been home, or even had a place to call home. He was on a "break," a break that had been standing for about two years now, without showing signs of stopping. But he didn't know if he wanted it to stop, because even if he did, nothing could be done. For a long while now, his only friend was the one sitting on his shoulder, looking through the vast crowd of people that was swooning around, searching for any signs of the dark man's old friends.

The young man hadn't changed much since the old days, when he had been excited, an eager trainer waiting to make his mark in the world, to become the greatest Pokemon Master ever born. Except that he wasn't the greatest Pokemon Master ever born. Drawing influence on the dark man's personality, his clothes would not have been out of place in an otaku conference. He had ditched the hat, first of all, tired of the trademarked look. His hair was now free, and mostly unkempt, several times its original mass, though it still stuck up like it used to in the old days. Most of it was tied in a ponytail, which served no purpose other than to direct the unkempt hair in the correct direction. Instead of the hood and the nice shirts he had worn in the days past, a plain yellow t-shirt fluttered around his stomach with each step. The pants were black and baggy, rather than dark blue and neat, but beneath them steel-toed combat boots clunked against the polished floors he walked on.

There really wasn't anything interesting about him. He was above-average in height, a few inches above six feet. The baggy outfit the man wore concealed the broad and powerful muscles he had, and did exactly as it was designed to do, hide his physique. A chain jingled around his neck, made of what appeared to be either silver or stainless steel, connected by interlocking links. At the end of the chain hung a simple symbol, a ring crafted out of gold that might have fit on his fourth finger, had he worn it there. The man glanced down at it, and took a deep breath. After all this time, he still felt the brutal sting of what the ring symbolized. But what did he expect, to wake up one day and the pain wouldn't be there?

"Damn," his muttered, looking up once more from the ring. He felt it hit his chest every time he moved. The pain was stronger here, in this place. He looked around, watching the people, knowing that he shouldn't, but secretly hoped, that he would see her again. It wasn't as though he didn't have some form of contact with her, he _did_, after all, have to send the check to her every month, his precious money which, by order of law, he was required to pay, handing her money which paid for someone he wasn't even allowed to see. He almost, but not quite, chuckled at the irony of how his money was used. Sometimes that was just the thing about life, in that it could sometimes kill you with stupid irony.

The mouse riding atop his shoulder, an electric type, looked at him with its beady eyes. His eternal companion, its red cheeks sparked as it checked him out, making sure that its trainer was alright. At the same time, its small, long ears perked, listening in for something, or someone. Its tail, shaped like a powerful lightning bolt, stuck out from the back of the man's head, or, at least, it looked that way if you were on the right side of the man. It too, looked older, but it still held the spark that the dark man had forgotten.

The man looked around, then sighed again. "So, where is she?" he muttered, looking up at the atrium's main arch. He had been walking down it, the atrium was just one of many entrances to the center, heading towards the battle arenas. A sign was draped over the atrium's exit, proclaiming _Saffron City Pokemon Contest- Invitation Only_ in bright purple lettering. The mouse on his shoulder issued a squeak with an eager "_Pika_!" The man just shook his head, and scratched his chin with one gloved finger. "Well, I hope she brought Sarah. You shouldn't leave a little girl at home alone." Picking up his feet once more, he made his way through the columned atrium's exit, and entered the convention center's main battle arena section.

At once, the moment he left the comparatively quiet area of the atrium, bright lights issued from all round him, colors swirling in front of him. He could see everything: people fleeing across the floors in search of food, circles of spectators watching as below them, contests were being won and lost, thanks to some ingenious design in the center's layout that had battles below, with glass ceilings above where the spectators watched, allowing for more focus, as the combatants couldn't hear the cheers or boos their performance generated. The dark man passed over the battles, mostly ignoring them, as he headed for the registration booths to pick up an identification badge. _There are way too many people here_. The man yawned at the thought, he was getting bored already. Sighting the booths over on the other side of the center, amidst a sea of people standing in line waiting for them, so that they too might partake of the festivities and watch the matches. Making his way over to the area, the dark man turned to the yellow rodent. "Are you sure she'll be here, Pikachu?" he asked.

As the dark man blatantly ignored the long line to retrieve an all-access badge, and headed straight up to the receptionists, the mouse nodded. "_Pi_!" it squeaked, confirming exactly what the man had said. Its eyes were scanning the floors below, the contest matches that were taking place, in search for her, or any other familiar faces in the crowds. The man knew she would be here, of course, since she was one of the top coordinators from Hoenn, but he really didn't want to catch her at an inopportune time. There was also a good chance that the others were here, supporting her. He didn't exactly want to see them, as he hadn't parted on good terms with them. After all, he was the one who had caused the demise of the relationship, not the other way around, and his former friends could never understand his point of view.

The people waiting in line didn't seem to take his point of view either, as a few of them were shouting at him for barging to the front of the line. As the man turned to the receptionist, a young redhead girl, he felt a strong poke jab him straight in the back. Annoyed, but not tempted to violence, the man bent his head to the girl, leaning onto the tall blue counter set up in front of her. "Reservation," he muttered, pulling out a scrap of paper from his pants pocket, and handing the folded sheet to her. "An all-access pass, please." The girl took it from him, and smiled at him with her emerald eyes.

"Just one moment," she answered, looking down to her computer terminal. The man nodded, and felt another sharp jab, this one to his lower back, followed by a vehement exclamation demanding to know exactly what the man thought he was doing and who he thought he was. If the nerd who was hitting him got any lower, the man silently decided that he would deck whoever was behind him. Fortunately, when the receptionist said to wait a moment, she really meant it, something very rare in the man's experience. "Here you go," she answered, handing the man a small, clip-on badge in the shape of a rectangle with a famous coordinator on it smiling at him. The man took it without looking and placed it into his pocket for later attachment.

"Thanks," the man grumbled, before turning around to see the offending person who had had the audacity to touch him. A tall, Goth boy, with pale face paint over his skin, with dyed raven hair was looking directly at him, a slight snarl embedded on his black lips. The dark man was unmoved. "What do you want?"

The Goth seemed angry about something. "I want to know why you think you can skip clear to the head of the line without waiting like the rest of us," he demanded, his various chains jiggling all over his dark attire as he shook his fist at the dark man. "What makes you better than us?" The crowd chorused its agreement.

The man considered answering them, but decided against it. Instead, he turned towards the mouse riding on his shoulder. "Want to get something to drink? I'm thirsty." he asked it, deliberately dodging the question the Goth had so kindly wanted him to answer. The mouse nodded, issuing one squeaking "_Pi_!" The dark man nodded, and began to scan the surroundings for the nearest drinking establishment. One caught his attention, a bar made up in the theme of a Orre cantina, that he liked the look of. The double doors were open, so he started walking forward, leaving the line without another word. _What is this, a nerd convention? I would think she would have a better rep._ He decided against asking anyone, including himself, the answer to that question, considering that he himself came here every year, so that would make him one of the 'nerds' that frequented these kinds of events.

"When's our first match?" the dark man muttered, shifting his face to look at the Pikachu. The little mouse shook its even smaller shoulders, and gave out a long stream of squeaks and murmurs, all of which either used the whole or part of the word "Pikachu." The man nodded. "I'll consult the chart later. They said I wouldn't start until tomorrow anyway." Both trainer and Pokemon made their way through the public, the man making sure that he didn't draw any attention. He didn't want anyone to recognize him. That was the precise reason that he had grown out his hair and changed his clothes from the ones commonly associated with him. He preferred privacy, one of the main reasons he kept such small contact with other people, and why he dressed himself differently. He didn't want the paparazzi after him, the media hounds that had ruined his life once. It had taken an entire year to ditch them. Now, he blended into the crowd, another passing, forgettable face.

The dark man pushed open the revolving doors to the bar, and took in the scent of cheap booze and drunks. This was one of his safe havens, a place that he go could to without being hounded, where he could enjoy the simpler things of life, and for a few hours just forget about his problems. The atmosphere was hazy, the reek of tobacco beckoning him from all over, swirls of smoke tracing the wooden ceiling above him. The TV was muted, but turned onto some coverage channel, most likely one of the matches that was going on. Twenty people were assembled in the dank bar, not counting the bartender, all of them staring into their bottles of hooch, or at the screen, where a Blaziken was blasting an Aipom with a Blaze Kick, followed by a Sky Uppercut. The man ignored the drunks, who all seemed to be slewing in some sort of misery. He had his own problems, so he didn't engage any of them in conversation, as they could get the impression he cared. He heaved himself forward, and took a solitary seat on one of the barstools in front of the bartender. Pikachu, mimicking its trainer, hopped off its perch, and settled down on the table in a laid-down position.

The man opened his mouth. "Give me the darkest beer you've got," he grunted, looking up at the bartender. "Now." The man placed a hand in his pockets, drawing forth a few bills and his access badge. The bartender took them up, and peered over the information, studying the dark man's face. When he was satisfied, the bartender handed the badge back to the man, and took the money.

The bartender, a grubby looking man with an eye patch over the left side of his face, nodded his head, pushing back the blond locks of his hair. "Coming right up," he answered politely, but with a slight growl. The dark man nodded, and the barkeep walked towards the old fashioned register next to the taps, ringing up the sale, and collecting the change from the tin. The bartender grabbed a mug from under the counter, and took out the tap for the darkest Orre swill he had. Pressing down on the button attached to the nozzle, a steady stream of dark beer poured into the cup. The keep tilted the mug, the foam falling out onto the floor as the container was filled. When the mug was full, the bartender raised his other arm and coughed hard, making sure to keep it away from the drink. The bartender then placed the drink down onto the shiny surface of the counter, and shoved it down towards the dark man, who caught it without glancing at the bartender.

"Here's your change," the one-eyed man muttered, handing back a few coins to the other, who just took them in his gloved hand and pocketed them. The man stared at the drink, while the bartender reached into his pocket to obtain the pack of smokes he kept in his pants, along with a small lighter with the image of a naked woman embossed on the surface. He opened the pack and grabbed one of the slim joints, shoving it into his yellowed, stained mouth, placing the pack back into his pocket and lighting the smoke with the flames from his lighter. Putting the lighter back, the bartender took a deep drag from the cigarette, before removing it from his mouth to blow more of the carbon monoxide-created haze into the air.

The dark man looked up to the bartender, who appeared to be immensely enjoying the burning joint, and made a slight face of disgust with his mouth. "You know, that's bad for you," he said with a solemn voice, before raising the tankard of beer to his lips. As the bartender watched, the man took a deep draught from the mug, emptying about a fourth of the contents into his mouth. He stopped to let the alcohol take its natural course, as drinking too much at once was a hazard, and set the tankard down.

The bartender laughed. "Yeah, the alcoholic tell the smoker that what he does is bad," he coughed. The dark man joined in, chuckling at the irony with him. "What I do to myself ain't much worse then what you do to yourself, ya know."

The dark man nodded. "I'm not an alcoholic, buddy," he replied, raising the glass once more. "I just like the taste is all." The barkeep chortled as the man made about half the contents of the tankard's original amount of liquid vanish mysteriously into his stomach. "Hey, you want some, Pikachu?" The mouse looked up, but shook its head. "Give my friend here a glass of milk." At this, the rodent nodded vigorously. The bartender just sighed, but got out a platter of milk for the Pokemon. Pikachu gave out an almighty squeak of thanks to its trainer, before it shoved its face into the drink and inhaled. The dark trainer fished out another few bucks, and passed them to the barkeep. "So, what's going on there?" he asked, pointing towards the television in the corner. The Blaziken had defeated the Aipom, and a play-by-play of the last move was being displayed, along with the scores.

The barkeep shook his head in confusion. "Don't ya know who that is?" he asked, pointing a finger at the screen. "That's the girl who's gotten the most bets placed on her. She's the favorite to win this year's Contest." The dark trainer grunted in acknowledgment, as a new picture came on the screen, displaying the girl in question. "The Contest started today, with the semifinals and finals taking place tomorrow. This kind of event is pretty good for me, 'cause most people come here ta drown their sorrows after losing in some booze."

The man wasn't paying attention to what the bartender was saying, focusing his attention on the woman in the picture, who was waving energetically and smiling. Her soft auburn hair fell down, slightly obscuring the azure eyes that were sparkling with triumph. She had grown out her hair, he noticed, since he had last seen her.

The dark man finished the glass, draining every last drop down his throat. "I suppose you are right," he muttered, staring through the empty bottom of the mug. "I'm one of the contestants, and it ain't exactly a peachy day for me either." The man looked down at the badge he had taken from the registration booth, and groaned aloud. The coordinator he had just seen on the TV stared back at him, her face fixed into a smiling grin, with two fingers sticking out of her fist, making the bunny signal.

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"Unnnnnccccle Maaaaaax!"

Deep, deep down, Max Birch loved his niece. Honest to goodness he did. He had been there when she was born, and had personally overseen her childhood with May for the last two years. He was perfectly willing to do whatever he could to protect her, and would do almost anything for her. This did not, however, change the fact that he would have done practically anything to avoid guard duty when May was off doing a match in the Contest.

Sarah Birch, the single most energetic girl that Max had ever met, gripped her uncle's hand with a strength that didn't seem to Max normal from a five-year-old. Plowing through the crowd, Max made certain that he didn't lose track of her, partially because he was a loving and caring uncle, but mostly because of the threat the little girl's overprotective mother had administered to him prior to heading for her match. Max chuckled sheepishly, keeping an eye on the little girl so that she wouldn't cause any trouble, one of the single greatest challenges he had ever faced.

Why May always picked him for guard duty, he never knew, though silently he screamed in exhaustion as Sarah somehow got behind him, and he suddenly felt a slight burden on his shoulders as she leapt up. Max groaned as he felt his eardrums burst, Sarah shouting for a piggyback ride as though he was standing on the opposite side of a battlefield. Already, his dark jade shirt was creasing, and beads of sweat fell from his face. His feet ached, an after-affect from chasing the little girl around. He needed to recuperate. "Hey, think we can sit down for a sec?" he asked, panting vigorously.

She giggled, grabbing the front of his neck as he tucked her little legs under his arms. "Yee-hah! Go, Uncle Max, go!" she squealed, kicking him hard in the side, like a cowboy spurs a Ponyta. Max reared in shock, but reluctantly neighed for the girl as he lumbered in the direction of the nearest place to sit. He looked around quickly, as he needed a place that would both let him sit and keep Sarah occupied. Deciding that his back was more important than spoiling dinner for Sarah, Max buckled towards an open food court, which seemed to house all sorts of different venders selling stuff. Passing through the crowd, Max panted as he approached one of the booths, and set the girl on his shoulders down onto one side of the table atop the large cushioned seat that spanned the outside of the table. She bounced around happily as Max deposited himself on the other side, panting roughly, and wiping his brow.

Sarah, easily distracted, looked in the direction of one of the arenas, where someone was losing. It was an exhibition battle, not part of the actual tournament, but the little girl turned towards Max, and smiled. "Is Mommy gonna win?" she asked, her high, assertive voice trailing over all the commotion going on around them. She dropped her head and popped onto the table, though her eyes remained trained on her uncle.

Max grinned, and raised his thumb. "She'd better win, or we're all gonna be in big, big trouble," he replied, pushing himself into an upright sitting position. It wasn't that he didn't mind babysitting Sarah, it was just that she somehow always managed to make him feel so _old_. Living with and watching a baby niece was definitely one of those things that could put grey hairs on Max's head, though thankfully the dark locks had remained intact since his old journeying days. They were a little longer now, and needed occasional brushing out of the eyes, but were otherwise fine. Max still wore glasses, though the style he had now was thinner and narrower than the kinds he had worn as a child. Sighing, he adjusted the lenses, making sure that they were firmly attached to his head. Blindness was not a good thing when watching Sarah. "You want something to eat?" Max looked round the venders, taking stock of what each was selling. "I think one of these guys should have some pizza for ya."

Sarah, at the very mention of the word 'pizza', changed, suddenly beginning to drool from her mouth, her foot shaking itself into a frenzy. "Pitza!" she shouted happily, mispronouncing the word as she always did, raising her arms. She hadn't learned yet how to properly say her favorite food, but she was far too cute when she said it for anyone to correct her. "Pitza!"

Max chuckled, shaking his head. "Sure thing, kid," he replied, rising from where he was sitting. He spotted the pizza vender, which wasn't that far from where they were, only a few feet away. Sarah jumped up from her seat, and followed her uncle, grabbing his larger hand as they went. The vender, a large man, whose lower face was covered by an unbelievably heavy, thick, auburn moustache. Max thought the man smiled, as the hair inclined upwards at the edges when they approached.

"Tell him what you want, squirt," Max said, nudging her forward.

As Sarah, in rampart detail, explained to the vender exactly what she wanted, Max looked at her, and smiled. He was a lucky guy to have such a cool niece in his life. And she was, of course, May's daughter, which meant that the dark, almost raven, auburn hair shined in the convention center's light, glowing with an inner beauty that plenty of guys would be stunned by when she grew up. Sarah, unlike her mother, was big on the shopping deal, having inherited the feminine gene from her grandmother that drove crazy women to shop. So she wore designer jeans, even though she was five, with a small yellow shirt that was tucked into her pants. She even had running shoes on her feet. But it was probably the eyes that Max always noticed the most when he saw her. Eyes that could freeze a Charizard in its tracks. Pools of midnight black, which carried a strange combination of fierceness and gentleness.

They were _his_, the eyes of her father, and Max knew well enough not to mention them. Even so much as saying his name near Sarah or May warranted a death sentence according to his sister. But still, he had left his mark on his daughter, and he never ceased to feel amazed at exactly how intense the gaze was. _I wonder if she even knows who her father is_. It was May's revenge against him, and Max sagged his head in dismay. _No matter how much I hate him, no child should be kept away from her father_. Sarah looked up to him, and offered a wide smile. Max replied with a grin, and paid the vendor, taking the receipt from the man, and walked back to the booth to wait for the entire, large pizza pie that Sarah had ordered.

He sighed, staring at the ceiling. _Times really have changed since it happened…_ As Max drifted off, Sarah began to demand attention once more, and it wasn't until a firm shoe slammed into his knee did Max return to reality, shaking his head. Sarah wanted the now-finished pizza from the vendor. Max chuckled, and nodded, rising to get it. She was such a happy child, for all she had been shielded from by her mother and family.

"Hey, Max!" The man, caught off guard, failed to notice as he was grabbed roughly in a giant, unbearably painful hug, as he set the pizza down on the table for Sarah. Max grunted in annoyance, though he knew the master of the voice. Brock Harrison squeezed a final time, before releasing Max to recover breath, laughing his head off. Max grinned, turning round to clasp the hands of his fellow Gym leader. He hadn't known that Brock would be attending, but it was a nice surprise nonetheless.

"Hey, old man," the younger man chuckled, shaking Brock's hand in welcome. Brock grinned, his fox-eyes nothing more than friendly slits on his face. They hadn't changed, just like the Brock that Max, May, and little Sarah knew and loved, his personality still bright and optimistic, if slightly more perverted than the old days, as Max could see Brock staring at one of the surrounding women out of the corner of his eyes. Brock's hair was a little longer, though it still gave someone the impression that he had stuck a pin cushion on his head and colored it brown. The spikes were longer, bent at the ends, and held up by a dark blue headband. He seemed to have gotten more tanned since Max had last seen him, and wore a dark brown vest with a navy blue shirt underneath. He wore black cargo pants, and nice, highly polished boots that in themselves qualified as a light source. "It's been a while, Brock. Good to see you."

Brock issued a giant laugh. "Same here, buddy!" he retorted, passing the younger man. "Scoot, squirt." Sarah cheered, moving hurriedly so that Brock could settle himself down next to her, and he patted her on the head, ruffling her dark auburn hair. "It's good to see you two here." He bent towards Sarah, and winked. "Now, have you been behaving for your momma, Sarah?" He pulled out a box of chocolate, a special Kanto delicacy that he gave the little girl every time he saw her.

The girl nodded, and snatched for the candy, which Brock kept just out of range. "Yes, Uncle Brock!" she squealed back. Chuckling, Brock lowered his hand, and handed her the candy, which she thoroughly inspected before tucking it away in her pants pocket. She then eyed, and began attacking, the pizza, tearing off a slice of the cheese-based product and gobbling it up.

Max grinned, looking at the exhausted form of Max, who was munching on a slice of his own.

"And have you been a good girl for Uncle Max?" he asked.

"Nope," the other man muttered, a final pant escaping his lips. Brock and Sarah laughed. "She's a little demon. Aren't ya Sarah?" She laughed, and nodded her head.

Brock, deciding the moment was too good to waste, deepened his voice, taking on the sterner, more adult accent he once used on his own brothers and sisters when they misbehaved. "Sarah," he lectured, wagging his finger at her as if he was displeased, "say sorry to Uncle Max."

The little girl giggled, and bobbed her head up and down. "Sowwy, Uncle Max," she chirped sweetly. "I'll be good from now on!" Brock thanked her, while Max decided they would have better luck figuring out a way to make 'from now on' last longer than the hour it usually did.

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The sounds, the chaos, the unending satisfaction of victory.

May Birch grinned in triumph, as her favorite Pokemon delivered the finishing blow on the small purple monkey in front of her, smashing its flaming arm in a fierce uppercut, sending the simian flying into the air, smashing its annoying, grinning face on the glass ceiling, with the crowd above cheering as they looked down into the match. Flashing a smile for the camera nearest to her, the young woman's pearly whites dazzled the audience, the shining azure eyes capable of stopping cars in the street smiling along with her mouth. She raised her hands high, as the judge roared her name.

"And the win goes to…May Birch!"

The crowd above them erupted into echoes of cheers and hoots, fan boys and girls alike chanted her name like crazy. Her opponent, a young prodigy about half her age, had already recalled his Aipom, and seemed to be fuming as he left, walking towards one of the elevators on his side of the arena to the above floor, where the press would be certain to annoy and harass him on his crushing defeat. She almost wished that she hadn't beat him. Almost, because she had wanted to win, and no amount of coordinators was going to stand in the way of that. Grinning, she recalled Blaziken, raising the Pokemon's red and white containment unit, its Pokeball, to shoulder height. She pressed down on the button in the center, and a streak of bright, crimson light erupted from the little orb. The light encompassed the large Pokemon, and reverted it into the same color, before the whole Pokemon vanished into the light, disappearing into the ball with an audible whoosh. Her match completed, May reattached the Pokeball to a small clip on her belt.

She chuckled to herself. Winning matches like this, completely and utterly dominating her opponents, was one of the few, simple pleasures that she had never denied herself. Brushing the long strands of brown hair from her face, she flashed another smile at the otaku standing above her battlefield, who all shouted in approval above her platform, her blue eyes twinkling at them. Dusting off her hands, May turned round, now that the match was over, and made for the elevators leading up to the upper floors. She passed through a small corridor, before reaching the glass lift. She pressed the button on the side, and the double doors whirled open in response. May stepped through the doors, and hit the button for the main deck, the floor above her.

The elevator whirled to life, and the doors closed slowly before her, and she felt the small jerk beneath her as she started to rise from the lower level, where the battles took place, and the upper deck, where most of the non-battling activity was going on. Through the glass, she could hear the venders selling their wavers, otaku running around in search of their favorite coordinators, and the various other goings-on common with an event such as this. The complex design of the center was made solely to accommodate multiple battles and a different form of spectator viewing. With the battles taking place below them, the viewers were given a different point of observation. Contests were growing in popular culture nowadays, almost on the same par as regular battles. As such, famous coordinators such as herself were normally swamped with incoming fan mail and attacked by paparazzi, not to mention swarmed by fans. May's fan mail alone could have more than capable of keeping an entire region happily supplied with paper for months. _Sometimes this lifestyle gets on my nerves_. She sighed, shaking her head, the machine slowing down as she approached her destination. She chuckled, hoping that her brother hadn't gotten overrun with guard duty, or else she might have trouble finding Max and his charge.

She was dressed plainly, she thought, looking over herself as she stepped out of the elevator. She didn't like to think she was beautiful, despite the fact that both _Playboy _and _Penthouse_ had asked her to pose for their magazines on multiple occasions. She was about five foot seven, with a lithe build and complex that masked her surprising strength. She didn't exactly like drawing attention to herself, even though every person in the building knew who she was. So she dressed simply, wearing black leather pants, high heel shoes, and a red blouse. She didn't wear makeup, because she thought it made her look tacky, but her family agreed that she looked stunning with the stuff on. That was all, nothing more. Nothing that would draw attention, except from, of course, her fans…

She had just exited the elevator when the cry of the average central-Kanto fan boy rang out clear through the crowd. "Hello beautiful!" echoed a nasally voice from within the surging crowd, followed by a giant horde of intense whistling. May groaned inside, as the man who had issued the catcall, a stereotypical fan, emerged from the crowd. A large beefy man, with more chins that a phone book's pages, grinned at her with bucked teeth, pointing to the extremely tight shirt he happened to be wearing, which displayed a wider version of her own smiling face, stretched over his tubby pectorals. The man grinned a second time, rubbing a fat hand through his gleaming, greasy black hair. "How you doin'?" he asked, in a deeper, more annoying voice.

May rolled her eyes. "Here we go again," she murmured, rubbing the top of her head. "Okay, let's do this. Which one of you guys to I have to beat up for everyone to stop bothering me?" She turned to face the gathering of sweaty nerds, or, in particular, the sweaty nerd who had catcalled her, and cracked the knuckles on both her hands. She knew exactly how to deal with annoying fans: beat them up.

The otaku who had spoken to her, obviously the leader of the gaggle of nerds, stood tall in the face of her demand, walking boldly towards her, his massive hips swaying with his hands. His nostrils flared, and his cheeks turned a deep scarlet, his heart thudding in his chest so loud that everyone could hear, though that was mostly due to his clogged arteries. "Come on, baby, don't be like that," he swooned, grinning through his disfigured teeth. "I mean, I'm sure that a nice, lovely woman like yourself needs some…manly comforts now and then. And considering as you don't have a man no more, and you haven't for the past couple years, I decided it would be a good idea to extend to you an invite into my pants. You look like you need some loving anyway."

May's hand curled up into a fist. "You're just begging me to beat you down, aren't you?" she asked calmly, though her flushed face displayed that inside she was beginning to burn with rage.

The nerd raised his hands. "Hey, Miss, I was just saying that I'd be better than that chump of an ex-husband of yours. What was his name again?" He would later come to regret the decision to bring May's ex into the conversation.

May flashed white with rage. "I'll take that as a yes," she hissed through gritted teeth. "And I'm happy to oblige." She walked very, very calmly towards the otaku, with that special glint in her eyes usually reserved for those people who, soon after being seen, grab a shotgun and go searching for a bell tower. The instant she was within striking distance of the nerd, she obliged. Throwing out her foot, she struck the otaku hard against the face with a heeled foot. Time froze in between the kick, and the distance that the otaku traveled immediately after the backlash was administered. The nerd was lifted clear off his feet, and knocked into the metaphorical next week. In unanimous agreement, the crowd that had supported the large man parted, allowing the nerd to travel several feet before a massive thud was heard, his giant girth making friends with the solid ground.

The group parted even further away from May as she walked forward, hands on her hips, and bent over the nerd, who was wheezing from the impact. The otaku winced as she approached, and she smiled, like a hungry wolf preparing to feed on her prey. "If you, or anyone here, mention him to me again, and you will pay," she growled, her eyes taking on a predatory look, glaring at him. Fuming, she spun round on her heel and left the crowd speechless, looking around for the nearest drinking establishment, feeling a desperate need to blow off some steam. It took her only a moment, and a sign advertising an Orre-style cantina. One that the nerds, judging by the acne on their faces, could not follow her into. _Perfect_, she sighed, making a quick dash for the bar, dodging through the relatively light traffic on the walkways. She almost collided into someone, even, just to get there as fast as she could. A light drink, just to take her mind off things, was exactly what she needed to unwind.

Opening the revolving doors, she took a quick survey of the room. There were only a couple of people inside, the only one of them which appeared conscious was sitting at the counter, his shadowed face turned towards the TV in the corner, checking out the match that her rival, Drew, was fighting in, though he didn't appear all that interested in it. A half-full tankard sat in his gloved, strangely large hands, containing a beer color that bordered on black-amber. On the counter next to him, a small yellow rodent was curled up, snoozing peacefully, with a half-finished saucer of milk by it. A Pikachu, she thought, her heart briefly skipping a beat when she saw it. He had a Pikachu, she thought, though she hadn't seen him in years. The man before her looked nothing like him, with strong, powerful muscles, albeit compact and not body-builder-size, with long hair, the raven color was the only thing that she could say reminded her of him. The man wore a yellow shirt, which was almost golden-colored if seen in the light, and hung around the man baggily, like the rest of his clothes.

She walked towards him, deciding that sitting next to him wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. She looked at him as she sat on the stool, and offered a quick smile, which went unnoticed by the man himself, whose face was covered by heavy bangs, and who seemed engaged in the activities on the television. Holding up her hand, she signaled to the barkeep, who came over a moment later, obviously bored out of his mind. "Could I please get a Mai Tai?" she asked, resting her elbow against the counter. The bartender looked her over once, before his working eye widened when he figured out who she was, and nodded his head.

"Ten, please," he muttered, grabbing various rums and juices for the drink. May groaned, and pulled her wallet out of her pocket. She flicked it open, and rooted through its contents, coming up with only five in bills. She looked up, watching the barman work, and grinned sheepishly.

"Do you take credit cards, by any chance?" she asked, revealing her empty wallet. The barman looked at her, and shook his ruddy head. May sank her head, but lifted when the man next to her coughed, having apparently woken up from his thoughts. She watched as he put a hand into his pocket, and dug up a twenty bill, and threw it in the direction of the bartender.

"It's on me," the dark man muttered, scratching the ears of his Pikachu. His attention was still on the TV, watching as the Roselia delivered a very nice Body Slam to its opponent. "You look like you've had a rough time." He sighed, then raised the glass to his lips, draining the last half of his drink. "Another one, barkeep." The dark man tossed the mug at the barman, as the one-eyed drinks mixer handed the Mai Tai to May. The barman grunted, and poured out another cup for the trainer.

"Thanks," she murmured, raising the lithe glass to her lips and sipping, the light rum burning lightly in the back of her throat. She set the glass on the wood counter, and rubbed her head. "It's just that groupies make me sick sometimes. Paparazzi hasn't left me alone for years…"

The dark man beside her grunted, and shifted himself so he was facing away with her, and nodded his head. "Yeah, life sucks, doesn't it?" he asked, his voice a dull growl, as the bartender handed him his third beer for the afternoon. May nodded her agreement, chuckling lightly, before he spoke again. "What's your story, anyway? I thought people wanted to be famous." The dark man raised his glass, and took a small gulp out of the beer. May sighed, but shook her head.

"It's nothing really," she answered, taking a second sip from the small beverage. The bartender, sensing he was not needed from a hand motion from the dark man, decided to occupy himself with a dusty glass beneath the counter, keeping his one eye on the match on the TV. "Just the life of every celebrity you read about, you know? Marriage, divorce. That kind of stuff." The man nodded his head, scratching the head of his Pikachu, its happy face peaceful and content. It was actually pretty cute, she thought, almost like_ his_ Pikachu. "You ever get into things like that?" She waited for him to answer, taking another drink from her Mai Tai.

The dark man chuckled, nodding behind his back. "Yeah, I've been in stuff like that," he replied, taking another sip from his tankard. "The way families are like nowadays, it's tough to find the 'ideal' family. Yeah, I know what you're talking about." He coughed into his drink, then took another draught. "I used to have a wife, and a kid too. Didn't work out the way I had planned, so my wife made me leave." He paused, then offered a small chuckle. "I still pay alimony, I'm not a deadbeat like most, but the funny thing is that I can't even see my kid. When we split, she got a court order saying that I couldn't come near the kid. So, I don't exactly know my own kid."

"Oh…" May dropped her face, looking at the combat boots the man wore. "I sort of do the same thing to my ex-husband. He can't see my baby girl, because I got the same kind of order from the courts. I still get the checks like clockwork though…" She touched her chest, it hurt talking about her former husband. "But I think he deserves it, after what he did to me, and how much he hurt me."

The dark man grunted. "Don't you worry about how he feels? I mean, not being able to ever see his daughter must be horrible for him."

She snorted into her glass in response. "It doesn't matter," May retorted, sipping in her drink. "I don't want my daughter around that kind of people anyway. He's the one that did it me, and not the other way around. He destroyed me, so I really don't care about his feelings on the subject." She looked up at him, noticing a slight change in his voice. It seemed sadder. "Hey, are you in the Contest, big guy?"

The man nodded. "Yeah. I'm in the semi-finals tomorrow. I was transferred in as a wild card, so I haven't been in the earlier rounds. I hope I have some decent competition this time, I haven't lost a fight for a good long while…" He sighed, lifting his head to stare at the ceiling. "You are, I know that. I saw you on the tube. You weren't bad, but there's always room for improvement."

She grinned. "Well, I'm pretty stiff competition, you know. I'm a top coordinator from Hoenn, so it shouldn't be a cakewalk for even the best coordinators." She raised her eyes, sizing him up. "I'm May Birch," she said, finishing her drink, and settling in on the counter. "What's yours?"

The dark man sat up straighter, paying attention. "Does it really matter?" he asked, cocking his head up. "I don't use my real name in events like these. Got a chart on you for the next matches?" May shook her head but, as if on cue, the match ended on the TV, and displayed the next round. May smiled, looking at her own face displayed on the monitor. Drew's face was there, as well, along with Dawn's beaming gaze. And then…she looked at her own opponent, who bore a very strong resemblance to the man she had been talking to. The dark, raven bangs covered the eyes, but his face was set into a half-smile, as though he had tried to smile, but had somehow failed. They couldn't hear what the announcer was saying, but May could see the names underneath the faces. Hers, Drew's, and Dawn's she knew, but the mystery man she didn't.

_ Keean Toby_.

May scratched her chin. "I've never heard of you, Mr. Toby," she said. "How have you avoided the paparazzi?" The dark man heard her, but didn't answer the question, so she changed the subject, looking towards the Pikachu waking on the table. It's eyes were fluttering open, and it yawned deeply. "How long have you been training that Pikachu?"

When the mouse was fully awake, it stared at May for a moment, as though having an experience of déjà vu. When it did, the man bent his head down to his Pokemon, and grunted. "_Kachu_," he muttered to the rodent, who nodded and kept quiet. "Pretty long," he answered, as the Pokemon climbed back onto his back, and settled on his left shoulder. It blinked, then began to whisper to its dark trainer rapidly. "We've got to get going." The man stiffened, then rose to his full height. Nodding to the barman, he turned to face the doorway out. "It's been nice talking with you, May Birch. I'll see you around." With that, he waved, and shoved his hands into his pockets.

She raised her hand. "See you later, then," she answered, as he left the bar, to stew in her own thoughts and guilt.

The man who called himself Keean Toby exited the bar, and started to the left, taking in the surroundings again. He ignored the calls from the vendors, the faces in the crowd, and blended into the environment. He didn't speak, but began to take note of all of the surroundings, checking the entrances and exits, the emergency evacuation areas, and areas that small objects could be concealed. Things that most normal people wouldn't look for, but things he needed to look for nonetheless. Ten minutes into his investigation, his pants began to vibrate, stunning him momentarily, but he adjusted. "It's for me," he muttered to the Pikachu, reaching into his pocket. He retrieved the small, cell-phone device and flipped it open. The blank screen glowed to life, and the man ducked into a corner, head swerving round as he checked to make sure no one had noticed him.

He sighed. He hated when he boss called. The dark man pressed a button on the silver phone, and pressed it against his ear. "This is Agent 1076," he muttered. The man turned to Pikachu, and nodded his head. Without a word, the yellow rodent hopped off his shoulder, and scurried away in the direction of the crowds. "My Pikachu is covering the target for me as we speak."

"Agent 1076," said a voice from the receiver, a dark growl that almost made the man flinch. Almost. "Status report. Has the target been identified?"

"Target has been identified. The target is presently in an Orre-style cantina, and is preparing to meet up with the rest of her party. Assumptions that she won have been confirmed, meaning she will be attending the dinner later tonight. I shall be attending as well, under alias." The man took a deep breath, then continued. "Now, cut the crap, and tell me what is wrong. You know I can handle something this easy without a checkup."

The person on the other side grunted, and the man could hear the faint scratching of a pen as his report was taken down. "We have received confirmation that a terrorist organization unknown to us is planning to attack the event. Their purpose is unknown, but the conditions of protecting your target have changed. To that end, a second, superior agent is being dispatched, and is on route to Saffron. A specialist agent with the kind of firepower to combat a terrorist threat of this nature."

Inside, the dark man groaned, his face sagging into an angered frown. "You're sending me one of the spandexes?" he demanded, a feeling of deep annoyance welling up within him. "Listen, 003, I can handle a terrorist. I don't need someone in flashy tights showing up to steal my thunder." He growled, striking the wall behind him with his free arm. "I can handle this on my own and you know it."

Agent 003, if he cared, ignored the comment. "Your orders have changed to correspond with this. Orders to protect solely the target have been terminated. Orders to continue incognito within the Contest have remained, with the added measure that you will forfeit if you may win. New orders are to receive Agent 0, Gold, and secure a safe passage for his operations. You will subordinate directly to him, obeying all commands given, without question." The voice paused, and a small sigh transferred over the phone. "You are otherwise allowed free reign of your assignment. Try and have some fun, 1076. I've read your files, you had to give up a lot for us. Do something for yourself for a change."

The dark man rolled his eyes. "How nice of you to care, 003. Blow it out your ass," he finished, pressing down hard on the red button, cutting the line dead. Sighing, he flipped the phone shut and stuck it back into his pocket. His jaw set, the man slammed his fists against the wall, grunting in irritation, as a wave of depression and frustration rooted itself firmly in his stomach. "Just what I need," he grumbled, looking out into the crowd. "Another idiotic, annoying encounter with my favorite spandex." As he stewed his feelings within himself, a flash of yellow prompted his attention, and within moments, the little mouse Pikachu was sitting on his shoulder, looking at him quizzically. "You ever think I made the wrong choice, Pikachu?"

The mouse shook its head, and shrugged its shoulders. "_Kachu, pi_," it replied. The man sighed, of course the mouse wouldn't know. Only he did, and he couldn't figure it out. The dark man removed himself from the wall he was leaning on, and started to shuffle through the crowd, soon losing himself in the wanderings of the other people, trapped amid his own thoughts.

He sighed, feeling the pain of the golden ring hitting softly against his chest. "I gave her up. I gave both of them up, and this is the result," he murmured, glancing through the crowd. He could see the couples, walking arm and arm together, laughing away their time. He saw families, children holding onto their mothers and fathers, wandering around. His face broke into a soft smile, as he remembered how he used to do that, with her, and with their child. Walking in the street, as if they had all the time in the world, his little girl taking her little baby steps in between them. "It's nothing but a memory now," he whispered to himself and Pikachu, vanishing into the couples and families, nothing more than a passing shadow. A darkened stranger in a cascade of light.

"Damn."

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Max passed the time waiting for May by recounting a story from his own years of traveling for Brock's own amusement. He lowered his voice, while Sarah assaulted the pizza in front of her in a manner that classified as third-degree manslaughter, as some of the stories were never suitable for small children. Brock's mouth widened, and he gasped as Max finished. "So, let me see if I have this straight," he murmured, as Max took a sip from the soft drink he had purchased. "You mean to say that you and she were—" He paused, making sure Sarah was preoccupied, "alone of various periods of time?"

Max, who was undisturbed by the question, continued drinking, but inclined his head, confirming the secret message in Brock's question. "That, my friend, would be correct," he answered, setting his drink down onto the table. "But I'll fill you in on the…other information later though."

"Max, are you boasting about stuff you can't back up?" The voice jolted Max out of his normal, relaxed state, and he turned to see his sister standing behind him, a sharp glare on him. Max grinned, and feigned ignorance to what she was inferring to. Hey, Brock," she said, smiling at the big man. Brock concurred, and wrapped her in a powerful hug. "Great to see you, buddy."

Brock grinned. "Great to catch up again, May. Sorry I was late, a few cases back in Pewter kept delaying me. I caught a train here a few hours ago…" He then noticed that May was having trouble breathing, and released her from his grasp, chuckling to himself. "Sarah, climb!" he ordered. The little girl, now finished with her meal, jumped on the table and tackled Brock's back, assuming the piggyback position with expert timing.

Sarah laughed, then jumped off Brock to land on May, who hugged her daughter tight. "Hi, baby girl," she said to Sarah, tickling her belly. "Were you good to your babysitters?" Max, upon hearing the question, immediately began shaking his head from side to side, and Brock slapped his back to stop him.

"Mommy!" Sarah cried out happily, holding tightly onto her mother. "Win, Mommy?" she asked.

She grinned, raising her thumb. "Yep," she answered. "Win, baby." Sarah shouted for joy, grabbing her mom hard. Brock and Max high-fived.

"That means we get to go to that dinner tonight, right?" Max asked, hoping for high-class, free food.

May nodded, and Brock said, "How about we carry this celebration somewhere else, huh? If we have a dinner to go to, we'd better go get ready! I need to rent a tux…"

"Okay," May replied, setting Sarah gently down on the floor, keeping the little girl's right arm in between her grasp. "Then let's get going, gang." Max took the lead, and led his sister and niece in the direction of the nearest atrium exit, Brock following behind the three, checking out the women as he went. Fortunately, he restrained himself, wanting to set a good example for Sarah.

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The dark man watched as they left for the dinner, surrounded by the massive ocean of people still traveling through the center, shrouding him from their live eyes. He forced himself to watch, like he always did, as the little girl laughed in happiness, the joyful face that the girl made when she saw the woman. The pained feeling within him throbbed every single time his heart beat, growing every time in intensity. "She'll never look at me like that," he muttered, his head falling to watch her go. He took a step forward, walking into the food court just behind them, but far enough away so that they didn't see him. He wanted away from the groups around him, the couples and the families, feeling the urge to be alone again. "I wish she knew me, Pi."

"_Pi, Pikachu_," the rodent answered sympathetically, patting the dark man's head with its small paw. "_Kachu_." The dark man nodded, and lifted his head slowly, wanting to catch a final glimpse of the girl before he left.

Just as May headed down the atrium, leading Brock and Max behind herself and her daughter, Sarah turned around, taking one last look at the center before she left for the day. Her dark, raven eyes flew round, checking everything they could see, before they stopped, for just a split second, resting on the dark man standing alone, apart from any crowd, the Pikachu sitting quietly on his shoulder. He looked to her, and his heart fluttered, beating wildly, though the pain had lessened in that moment. In that moment, she had seen him, even though she didn't know who he was, or what she meant to him. But, in the next moment, the girl vanished, lost in the void of the crowd surrounding the atrium, heading for the world beyond, Saffron City, leaving the dark man standing where he was, hands in his pockets, with his mouth slightly opened.

He sighed, his head falling back to stare at the polished ground beneath his feet. "I love you, Sarah," he whispered sadly, his tone full of loss. "And I love you too, May." Those were absolutes, the things that would never change about the dark man, no matter where he went or what he did.

Pikachu felt the pain coursing through its trainer, and nodded. "_Pi_," it squeaked, before pointing to where they had come from, the main atrium that led out of the center into Saffron.

The man shrugged his shoulders, turning away from the exit. "Yeah, I know," he replied, turning away from the door. He couldn't push May and Sarah, his lost love and daughter, from his mind forever, but he could put away the feelings until he had time for them. "It's time to go to work, isn't it?" The mouse squeaked its reply, and the dark trainer walked forward, his combat boots clunking on the floor. A second later, he was gone, vanished in the sea of people, non-existent to anyone who saw him. As he said it, he was nothing more than a passing shadow, a lurking memory that was never forgotten, but never fully remembered. Déjà vu, as his colleagues put it, to be seen by the public then dismissed just as quickly.

The people in attendance continued with their lives, shopping, battling, and messing around to their hearts content. And only one person in the crowd, Keean Toby, knew the fate that could befall them if he failed. Nothing changed for them, the public was perfectly happy, ignorant of what was coming, concerned solely with enjoying themselves, and having a good time. The terror threat wasn't known to them, or the responsibility shouldered upon the dark man, now that he was burdened with their lives. It was the furthest thing from their vacant minds. Only he knew, and he wasn't even allowed to do anything to stop it without spandex approval. It made him sick.

The only light left in the dark man wondered about his daughter. He wondered who she was as he wandered in the direction of the exit. He wondered how she was, whether she missed not having a father, or even if she knew she had one. It was one thing to see his daughter, to just look at the little girl. It was another to know her. He was a stranger to her, even though he knew her better than anyone outside her mother. If he could just talk to her, hold her within his arms like other fathers could. He wanted to tell her who he was, and how much she and her mother meant to him. _Is that so much to ask_?

Even though it was one of the most rewarding jobs in the world, and one of the most secret, the dark man hated his life as a PKM Agent. He hated what it had done to him, and what it had, in the end, cost him forever.


	2. Morph 2

**Morph Two: The Golden Ranger Arrives**

Max, after glancing at his reflection in thought, decided that he had once again failed to learn how to properly tie his tie. Why, out of all the difficult things that he had mastered how to do, such as flirting in a form that in no way resembled Brock's, controlling Sarah, and managing the gym back in Petalburg, was he still unable to attach a simple piece of cloth to his neck? He groaned, undoing the stupid-looking loop hung on his neck, irritated. He walked away from the mirror, and headed towards the slightly-ajar door that led to the living room. "May, can you come help me please?" he called, raising his hand to his lips. May shouted back something he couldn't quite understand, mainly because she was helping Sarah get changed into her dress.

"Give me a sec!" she called back, somewhat muffled, followed by a shout of excitement from her daughter. A moment later, a slightly disorganized May walked into the room, shaking her head. "Max Birch, after all these years, have you still not learned how to tie a tie?" With a soft noise from her mouth, she walked behind Max, grabbing the tie and attaching it tightly around her brother's neck. She wound it quickly, but smartly, so that the green tie looked half-way decent, something it would never be if she left him to it alone. "There. Now you just need your jacket and we'll be done." She slapped Max on the back, and walked out of the door, as she herself needed to add on some final changes to her dress. Max chuckled, placing the black jacket over his deep jade shirt, and observed himself in the mirror. He didn't look too bad, he might even pick up a phone number or three, depending on if Brock decided to put on his own moves. Brock was always sure to drive off at least one woman.

"Ready!" he shouted. He brushed his hand through his hair one last time, and straightened his glasses before he walked out of his adjoining room where Sarah was waiting on the couch, watching another match on TV. She had obviously changed, as she now had one a small, very plain black dress, and her hair was made up with chopsticks. Another door opened, and Brock emerged, in a navy blue suit with a black bowtie attached. Brock never had problems when it came to dressing himself, so he always wore the more difficult bowtie to taunt Max.

"Phew, am I glad to be out of that center." Brock breathed a sigh of relief. Max agreed, relaxing in a small chair by the sofa. Brock sat on the other side, fingering his bowtie. "It's good to be out in the world again, where the fresh air is." Max chuckled, glancing at the TV. Sarah shouted in triumph when they showed the Aipom being blasted. "They're replaying the matches from today." Brock pointed at the screen. "I think they're doing some sort of analysis on May's match."

"Huh." Max turned back to Brock. "I swear Brock, every year we have to go to this contest that center gets smellier and smellier," he jested, covering his noise with his left hand, pinching the nostrils shut. "It always smells like a bunch of otaku in there!" Brock laughed and slapped his knee.

Sarah, having heard a word that was unknown to her, turned her head in the direction of her uncle. "What's otaki mean?" she asked, looking up as May exited her room behind Max.

"Are we ready to go?" Max twisted his body to see May in a crimson ballroom dress, with lightly laced black gloves on her hands. Brock instantly blushed, while Max turned back to Sarah. "Here, little girl." Sarah obeyed and hopped off the couch to stand by her mother's side. "What are we talking about?"

Sarah looked up at her mother. "What's otaki mean, Mommy?"

Max stood up with a big grin on his face. "It means one of the big, sweaty nerds that hang out at the contest, Sarah," he explained. To demonstrate, he held his hands out in front of his stomach to simulate a fat person, and he started panting heavily.

Sarah looked to Brock. "It means Uncle Max?" she asked, as she placed her thumb into her mouth and suckled gently.

May couldn't control herself and burst out laughing, along with Brock, while Max's face was stained a fierce scarlet. "Come on, otaku," May said between several small giggles, and Max reluctantly followed. "Let's go scope the people downstairs. I want to see that opponent of mine again." Brock nodded, and as they walked towards the door, Brock opened the door to lead them out. He waited until the mother, daughter, and uncle team were out before he himself exited, and shut off the room's lights by clapping twice.

"So, who exactly is your opponent tomorrow?" Brock asked May, as she hit the button to call the elevator. "I didn't exactly get a chance to check the roster for tomorrow's matches."

May shrugged. "I know that Dawn's up against Drew tomorrow, and I'm up against this wild card guy, Keean Toby." Brock's brow arched curiously, and she nodded in agreement. "I have no idea who he is either. I met him today, at that Orre-style cantina, but he didn't really say much."

"What's he like?" Max asked.

May scratched her head, trying to find the right answer. "He…he reminds me of someone," she replied. "I don't know why, but I kept having the weirdest sense of déjà vu while I was talking with him. He's dark, I'll say that much. Mysterious too."

"Got any idea of how he fights?"

May shook her head. "He was with a Pikachu, a pretty powerful one too, from the looks of it. Maybe that was what felt so familiar… Well, we'll see him downstairs, all of the semi-finalists should be at the dinner." She thought of the Pikachu again, it had seemed familiar too. It had looked at her funny, like it had seen her before. Brock touched his chin, wondering about Keean Toby.

"You don't think that maybe…_he_…" Brock pondered aloud.

May firmly shook her head. "No, I don't think so. For one, the guy was totally different. Even if he had a Pikachu, I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Nothing more." But even as she said the words, she wondered how much she really believed them. "I mean…he can't come. He wouldn't…"

Sarah pulled on the strings of May's dress. "Who's coming, Mommy?" she asked.

She shook her head. "Nobody, baby. Just someone we used to know."

Thankfully for May, the elevator opened. The cheesy elevator music trailed off as they turned a corner in the hotel's lobby and towards the dining room that had been reserved for the dinner. Max opened the double doors for the group, and the brightly lit room became exposed to them. It wasn't all the big, mainly because the dinner was for the semi-finalists and a few select members of their friends and family. A few social figures were there, May could see the Gym Leader, Sabrina, standing next to her mother and father and talking to someone that she didn't recognize in the far corner. About five tables sat in the center of the room, all circular and arranged for five people each. White linen cloth was draped over them. "Well, how about we press the flesh?" Max asked, and began scoping the general area for beautiful women, while Brock drooled in Sabrina's direction. May nodded, spotting her friend Dawn on the other side of the room. Keeping a tight grip on Sarah's arm, knowing how much her daughter loved mischief, May gave a loud shout in Dawn's direction. The other coordinator turned, and a big smile lit up her face.

"May!" she exclaimed and wrapped her arms around her friend. May grinned, it had been a few months since she had last seen Dawn, but she was still energetic and ready to have fun. She had cut her hair short, so it only fell to her neck, but she was nevertheless inducing stares from Brock, a fine compliment if a woman took it that way. She wasn't in a dress, but rather a snowy white kimono, complete with a black wrap along her waist. She looked up at May and smiled. "It's wonderful to see you again." She reached down to pat Sarah's head. "You too, Sarah. How have you been?"

Sarah nodded. "I'm okay," she replied with a grin.

"We've been good, Dawn," May answered. "Some wins, some loses. You know the drill. All in all, everybody's fine in Petalburg. I think my dad's getting tired of being used as Sarah's horse, though, so Max does double duty as the Gym Leader and babysitter now."

Dawn laughed. "Poor Max, like he didn't have enough work." She turned and bent down to look at the little girl. "Now, you behave for your Uncle Max. He loves you very much, but that love needs to go both ways, alright?"

Sarah nodded, with a twinkle in her eyes. "Okay, Aunt Dawn."

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The dark man adjusted the gold tie on his neck, and looked himself over again. He looked exactly what he was supposed to look like: a boring, unnoticeable coordinator. His hair, while still slightly unkempt, was nicely groomed for the dinner. He felt stiff and uncomfortable in the black suit he was wearing. He looked completely different from the kid he had once been. He noticed his jaw was set into a thin, permanent line as he checked for stray lint or hairs on the fine suit.

Pikachu was out on the veranda of their large hotel suite, enjoying the night breeze of the city, so the man didn't bother to disturb it just yet. His suit, specially ordered from the finest tailor in Saffron City, looked like something out of a spy movie. The shirt beneath was the same color, exactly as he had asked, with the dark gold tie very noticeable against the black. The man hesitated for a moment, before he reached into the coat pocket beneath his lapel, removing the sunglasses within, and placed them over his face. He needed to remain incognito, something difficult to do in a room crowded full of people he knew from a past life.

Deciding that he could have looked more like a mafia boss than a coordinator, the man walked from the shiny, porcelain bathroom. He clapped off the lights with two taps and headed through the living area, a rather nice space which was mostly styled after Kanto architecture, with a kneeing table for eating, and a small, plasma TV that was he had personally requested. Some paintings hung on the faint, cream-colored walls. They were modern, not a genre he preferred. Nothing modern in art really qualified as art to him. His head turned to look at the portraits as he passed. To his left, a full king-size bed awaited his later use, though he would probably spend the night resting on the hard floor. Years of travel had affected his needs for comfort and warmth, to the point where he honestly didn't feel that comfortable lying on a soft mattress when there was a perfectly good space on the floor.

He opened the glass sliding door and walked out onto the small veranda where his Pokemon sat in a chair snoozing peacefully. The man closed the door, slightly harder than needed, so that Pikachu would wake up. The yellow mouse's eyes flickered open, and it straightened its little body. The man nodded his head, and the Pokemon relaxed. He walked to the second chair, and sat down next to it, scratching its head.

"He's going to be here soon," he muttered and looked out into the vast city before him. Lights and neon signs glowed in the distance, below the twentieth floor they resided on. "I really don't want to see him again." Pikachu nodded its agreement, it wasn't all that happy with having to work with the famous Agent 0 of the PKM either. The Golden Ranger, aside having the most powerful equipment the whole of PKM had ever designed, was not one of their favorite people. Sighing, the man looked to his wrist and pulled out the small, digital watch that had hidden itself in his coat sleeve. "It's almost nine," he murmured, looking to the mouse. "We'd better get going." In response, Pikachu crouched and leaped up to its trainer's shoulders. The man patted its head once, before he rose from the chair to straighten the suit.

The man walked back into the hotel room, closing the door to the veranda as he went back in. As he headed towards the door, a knock issued from the outside of his room. The man's hand automatically went to the waistband of his pants, where he had concealed a small, inconspicuous revolver. He cautiously approached the door, reaching for the handle and turning it gently. As he opened it, he saw one of the bellboys standing there waiting for him, a smile on the his face and a tray in his hand.

He looked down on the young bellboy. "What do you want?" the man asked. In response, the young man tipped his grey cap, and opened the covered tray with a flourish, revealing a small gray chip sitting in the center of the platter.

"This was delivered to the hotel, with requests that it be taken to your room, sir," the bellboy answered. The man nodded and snatched the chip up in his hand. "Were you expecting it?"

The man shrugged. "Sort of," he answered. He shut the door behind him and walked back into his room. The man ignored the bellboy behind the door, who was still hopeful that he might get a tip, but after a few tries he got the message and left. The man, alone with the Pikachu once more, waited on the other side of the door with his hand inside his pocket, until the faint buzz of the communicator's vibrator flared to life exactly as the man predicted. He lifted the silver device from his pants, and flipped it open. Sure enough, on the small screen, a single number was displayed as the caller-ID.

_ 0._

He raised the receiver to his lips. "Agent 1076 here," the man muttered dryly. "What do you want?"

He heard a soft cackle from the other side of the line as an older man answered. He felt that string of annoyance stir up within him. "Agent 1076," 0 replied. His soothing voice repulsed the man. "How very nice to hear from you again. I was hoping to run into you sometime this year. How have things been?"

"Cut it out," the man retorted. He stared at the strange silver cartridge the bellboy had delivered. "What's this silver thing you've given me, and what does it do?"

"Call me 'sir'," Agent 0 answered, completely ignoring the question. "Call me 'sir,' or no orders for you, Agent 1076."

The man grinned. "That suits me fine, 0. I'll just kick everyone's ass at the Contest tomorrow, and we won't have to see each other. That works for me, though HQ might say otherwise. What's say you just give me the orders from PKM?"

"You, 1076, are absolutely no fun," droned the dark voice in response. "Fine, since you're so curious. If you look at the cartridge, you will notice a special number on the bottom. Read it out to me." The man looked to the little cartridge. There was nothing on the front, so he flipped it over to see a small number etched in black on the bottom.

"SA-06."

"Exactly," the Ranger answered. "It is an SA Cart, which connects to your PKM com-link. I procured it for you from 003's department. It can be inserted in a special slot in your com-link when you need to carry out PKM duties without revealing your identity. It has been decided by higher ups to temporarily promote you to Special Agent status. Your temporary designation will be SA 06. Congratulations."

"I don't want a promotion," the man retorted, and clenched the fist holding the cartridge. "I just want some orders."

"You want orders, rookie?" the voice spat back. "Your orders, _SA 06_, are to secure your entry to the Contest. You are to remain under your alias as Keean Toby, and you are to engage your former wife in battle tomorrow. Your secondary orders are as follows: defeat your wife, and your promotion to SA 06 status will be rescinded, and you will return to the grunt rank of 1076. Lose, and your promotion becomes permanent. Is that understood, SA 06?"

The SA grinned. "I won't lose, then," he retorted stubbornly. "But you aren't making it easy, setting me up against her of all people tomorrow. Got any particular reason for it?"

"I know it will be hard. That is why, SA 06. I am aware, as are PKM, of the attachments you have at the Contest. You are not to interact with them outside of tonight's social event, as the temptation is something you do not need. Do not let your heart cloud your judgment. That is the one thing that keeps you from Ranger status." The voice stopped, letting the dark man process the information. "I understand what you feel. Do not let it blind you to your duty. Is that clear?"

"…Easy for you to say," the man mumbled before he terminated the conversation. "You don't have attachments like I do." He scowled and shoved the communicator and the SA Cart into the jacket pocket of his suit. He turned to face the window, seeing himself once more, only in a different light than before: in self-loathing and despair. "That's all they are to him, isn't it? Attachments." He saw his powerful muscles, concealed beneath the disguising suit. He saw the dark tan that traced over his body, an after effect of a southern mission. He was totally different from how he had been four years ago.

_ "Get out of my house! I never want to see your face again!"_

The man flinched, as the memory's echo ran through his mind. He hated when that particular sound rang through his mind, as it did every once in a while. The dark man suffered from extensive insomnia, brought forth by that exact memory. He'd tried sleeping, he really did, but nothing he did would banish that nightmare from the recesses of his mind. No matter how many years passed her scream, and his loss, would remain sealed in his mind, awaiting him the moment he dropped his guard. It never left his head. The tears she shed that night, the endless sobs, they tormented him, even after all this time. Every time he had fallen asleep, when he dropped his guard, the nightmare and the image of that night returned, the last time he and his wife loved each other. The last time he had held her, the last time…

The man looked up, staring into the dull emptiness of the room. It had been a while since he had slept, since he had relaxed his guard. He was prolonging it, because he never wanted to see it again. "Ever since I became an agent, the very first day, I knew what was going to happen. I…I just didn't want to believe it would happen. I tried so hard to stop what I was becoming, Pi, but the instant I was inducted my fate was sealed." He felt one of the headaches that came with his insomnia and ignored it. A headache was not going to help him. "She would have never understood, even if I could have told her." He was never allowed to tell. He was sworn to keep who and what he had become to protect her a secret to the grave. _And how could I keep the secret from her, when I love her with all my heart? _

Pikachu nodded and mumbled something that the dark man alone could understand, because he rose properly from where he had leaned against the wall. He turned towards the door, rechecking the watch on his wrist. He cursed under his breath, he was going to be late if he didn't hurry. The man wrenched the door open with little restraint and slammed it shut behind him. He attracted a few stares from some of the other people on the floor, but with a well-placed glare they promptly found something else to be interested in. The man marched through the corridor and headed for the elevators to the main dining room where the party was taking place. The doors opened a minute later, and he stepped in. The cheesy music instantly irritating him. He glanced at himself again in the elevator's mirror, then slammed the button for the main lobby.

"Let's get things moving," he muttered while he fought the urge to punch out the mirror. The elevator started to hum, and the man got the impression that he was falling slowly to earth, the normal sensation which informed him that the lift was working. Pikachu kept still, as it didn't exactly like elevators that much, so the man propped himself against the rail to yawn. The need for rest was getting powerful, and he always seemed to get tired whenever he was an assignment like this. He pushed his tiring body to function and reminded himself that he just needed to wait until he got back to the room to get the fix needed to keep him awake.

_ Without love_. He cursed, as the voice rocked through his mind, grabbing his head in annoyance. The headache was worsening. "Shut up," he ordered himself and straightened up in an attempt to keep himself calm. He hated when he talked to himself. His attention, thankfully, was saved when the ding from the elevator door informed him that he had reached his destination. As he moved forward, he felt the rodent's paw on his head. It whispering words of encouragement to him. "I know, Pi. I do. But this is something I can't fight like a criminal or a terrorist. This is about my emotions, and those are more dangerous than anything we've had to fight."

"_Kachu_," it answered with a tinge of sadness in its tone. The man lifted his hand, and patted its yellow head. A forced smile appeared on his lips. He chuckled, though he didn't mean it, before he headed for the dinner room. He made a last-minute adjustment to his sunglasses. He wasn't acting to play Keean Toby, he didn't need to. Keean Toby was a dark warrior, a person without remorse or pity, though he was courteous. He did not engage others in conversation and preferred being the stereotype of a loner. He was a man who would stay for as long as he needed to in order to establish his identity, and then he would leave. And above all, he would avoid if possible any interaction with his former friends, who might see through the disguise.

The man became Keean Toby, and stepped into the room.

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"Now Sarah, no more attacking the waiters, okay?"

May suppressed her chuckles, watching as the injured man was walked away by two other servers with his hands feebly clutching at his stomach. Sarah just blew a raspberry at the man, obviously very pleased with herself. The waiter just grumbled and resisted the urge to remove himself from his friends in order to teach the girl a lesson. But he was led away, leaving Max and Brock to search for a new server to order their drinks from.

"Awight, Mommy," she answered and bobbed her head up and down. May found it impossible to remain angry at her daughter, so she patted the little girl on the head and gave her a reassuring smile. She opened her mouth to remind Sarah exactly why she shouldn't tackle people, when the doors opened, and the dark figure entered the room. For some reason, time seemed to slow down for May as the man walked in and the doors closed behind him. She didn't mistake him for a moment, she knew exactly who he was. The aura that seemed to waft from him, the scent of danger and excitement. Sarah didn't seem to notice, so she pulled on her mother's dress. May snapped out of the strange spell cast by Keean Toby and looked down to her daughter.

"Baby girl, why don't you go play with Uncle Max for a minute?" she asked, her eyes still on the man. "I'm going to go say hello to the person I'm up against tomorrow." Sarah nodded, and skipped in the direction of her uncle, just as he had gotten a small, amber-filled glass. May straightened herself, brushed down any creases in her crimson dress and checked her hair, before she approached the man. His Pikachu spotted her ahead of time, and whispered something she couldn't understand into his ear. Just like last time, the man muttered something back in the Pokemon's unique tongue, and the little rodent hopped off, darting across the room and vanishing.

"H-hello, Mr. Toby," she murmured, bowing her head in acknowledgement towards the dark man. "It's nice to see you again." She lifted her arm, offering a handshake to the man, but he surprisingly didn't take it, deciding to place his hands into his pockets. He lifted his head from the position it had held earlier, staring at the floor, to look at her face. She was slightly stunned by his facial appearance. His back had been to her in the cantina, so it was strange to see the hardened face and the sunglasses the man wore. He didn't smile, but his face softened when he saw her.

"Miss Birch," he replied, nodding his head. "It is nice to see you again. Please, call me Keean, Mr. Toby was my father." She chuckled at the small jest, and Keean snapped his fingers to signal a waiter that he wanted something. A young man, with a shaved head and blond eyes, arrived almost immediately. He rushed through the spread tables and small crowds towards Keean, eager to take his order. "I want a beer, kid, and if I don't have it in two minutes, you're in trouble." His mouth lifted in a small smile, as the young man tripped over a chair in his haste to get to the kitchens on the other side of the ballroom, to retrieve a bottle. May giggled, looking up at the mysterious coordinator.

"You're mean," she answered delicately, while she wagged a finger at him. "You're my opponent tomorrow, right? It's strange that I've never heard of you before, I usually keep up with famous coordinators around the world." Right on cue, the waiter returned with a fresh bottle of beer for Keean, who took it and waved the boy away. The waiter huffed, somewhat annoyed by the rude display from Keean, but ran when the dark man turned toward him and gave him such a stern glare that his survival instinct kicked in and he tripped on another nearby chair from one of the tables.

"I am your opponent," he answered carefully, as he lifted the neck of the amber bottle to his lips and took a small sip. "It figures I get the best coordinator in my first round." He chuckled lightly, and walked with May in the direction of one of the vacant tables nearby. Keean pulled out a chair for the young lady and allowed her to take her seat before seating himself beside her.

May's face flushed briefly. "You flatter me, Keean," she answered. "But, I must ask how you have kept out of the public's eye. Like I said earlier, I've never heard your name before." She lifted her brows suggestively. "What's your secret?"

Keean Toby looked around, as if someone might overhear something he might want kept confidential. Then, he leaned in close, resting his arms on the white-clothed, circular table, whispering, " Don't tell anyone, but I'm not really a coordinator. I'm really a secret agent." He then grinned, displaying his pearly whites. Then he chuckled again.

May giggled. "You have a strange sense of humor, Keean. Not bad, just different." Keean nodded his head, leaning into the back of his chair. "So…what style do you use?" she asked, crossing her legs. Keean arched his brow.

"What kind of style?" he asked, repeating the question aloud. "Well, I dabble in all sorts of things. I only have one Pokemon, so I have to it train extra hard to make up for that shortcoming. You won't be able to beat me though…or, at least, I think I'm pretty confident that I can win against you."

May raised her eyes. "Cocky, aren't you?" she answered. "What makes you think you have an edge over me?"

The big man grinned. "Unless you can read my moves, you won't be able to beat me. That's the plain and truth of the matter. I've got an extra skill that always comes in handy when I'm losing, one that has never failed."

"What's that?"

"I know how to pull a fire alarm if things get bad."

May couldn't help it. She burst out laughing and a tear trickled out of the corner of her eye. She felt a hand on her shoulder, which snapped her back to reality, and turned her head to see a pair of bright green eyes staring back at her. Keean looked up too, to see the slightly younger, but apparent friend, of May.

"Drew!" May smiled, jumping out of her seat at the sight of the man. Drew grinned, holding her tightly against him. Keean remained where he was, observing them, as they separated moments later. May hadn't gotten to see her friend around the Contest until tonight, given that both of them were on opposite sides of the Contest draw-up. May grinned, ruffling the emerald bangs on Drew's head, something that she knew he hated. The young man chuckled, reaching into his jade lapel to pull out one of his trademark crimson roses, and bowed as he handed it to the young woman.

"It's nice to see you again, May," he answered with allure, as she accepted the flower from him. "I'm sorry we had to wait for so long before we could talk, my match today kept me from interfering. Plus the fans, plus the ladies…" He could have gone on but stopped, having learned years before to control the timing and nature of his rants. He instead looked past May to the dark coordinator that had been sitting with her. He extended his hand, but Keean made no motion in response. "Hi, friend. My name's Drew. What's yours?" The man looked up to Drew.

"Name's Keean Toby," he answered politely, if a little forced. "I'm the wild card up against Miss Birch tomorrow." His glasses moved up, taking in Drew. "You're the guy in the other match, against Dawn, aren't you?" Drew nodded and gave a thumbs up. "That's interesting, but from what I've read, you won't be of a challenge. We do things differently in Orre."

Drew nodded. "So, you're an Orre trainer, huh? That explains your strange accent… Well, we have two Hoenn legends, a Sinnoh expert, and one Orre unknown. This Contest should be interesting."

Keean's mouth shifted into a light grin. "I don't expect it to be easy, but you should know that us Orre types don't play nice. Maybe you should do some last minute prepping before tomorrow. I don't plan on going soft." He took another drink. "Got a lot riding on tomorrow." He bent his head, and muttered sharply at the floor something that neither Drew nor May understood offhand. Instantly, a yellow flash bolted across the red carpet, and a little mouse was on his shoulder, its beady eyes looking directly at May. "I'd love to stay longer, but I was just passing through tonight. I have some last minute things that need taking care of." He bowed his head.

May and Drew returned the bow, the glow of friendly rivalry in their eyes. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Keean Toby. Maybe we'll see each other on the battlefield," Drew said, grinning at the thought of taking on the dark trainer. Keean grabbed his bottle.

"I look forward to fighting you tomorrow," May added, bowing her head in response.

"I'll bet," he replied, tipping his bottle to her. Keean tilted his head, looking behind May to see a little girl that bore a strong resemblance to his opponent hanging on the neck of a young man with glasses. He smiled and pointed to the child. "Is that your daughter?" May turned, and an exhausted expression appeared on her face at the sight of Max and Sarah, though she also found it highly amusing.

"Yep," she answered, beaming. "That's little Sarah."

His sunglasses trailed over the girl for a moment, his smiled flickering. Then he focused his attention on May. "She's very beautiful, Miss Birch. It must run in the family." He looked her up and down and grinned lightly when he saw the slight tingle of red on her cheeks.

"Thank you for the compliment, Keean," she breathed, rubbing her cheek where the crimson was most prominent. The man was very charming for an Orre trainer. "You're very nice looking as well."

Keean shrugged. "I do alright, I guess," he muttered. "Anyways, I have to leave. Look forward to our match tomorrow." He then looked to the Pikachu on his shoulder, who nodded. "I have somewhere I need to be, so if you will excuse me…" He waved once with his hand, before clicking his heels and turning round. Keean moved forward, returning from where he had come, opening the doors leading to the rest of the hotel. May watched him go, feeling a slight flutter in her chest.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and Dawn giggled as she pointed to the crimson spots on her friend's face. "Who was that?" she inquired, pointing her other hand to the door at the disappeared form of Keean Toby. "He was cute."

"Hey!" Drew felt left out of the conversation. "I'm cute too, Dawn," he muttered softly to himself.

"No you aren't," she retorted. "Who's the new guy?"

May shrugged her shoulders in response. "He's Keean Toby, my opponent tomorrow. That's all we know about him."

"Really?" Dawn rubbed her chin in thought. "I get the strangest feeling that I've seen him somewhere before…"

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The dark man returned to his room, physically and mentally drained. He stumbled and collapsed onto the floor a few feet into the room groaning. Pikachu jumped off just in time, sighing. He had overdone it, the first time in a long time. It had been forty-five hours since its trainer's last dosage, so it knew what he was suffering. About a year's worth, give or take, of sleep deprivation was flooding through him. The little mouse abandoned its trainer, running into the bedroom where an opened suitcase lay waiting for it. Pikachu jumped in, searching for the syringe that its trainer always carried with him with the special serum. Grabbing the needle in its mouth, it found the tube with the soft azure chemical inside. Holding it carefully in its palm, Pikachu jumped out, running on three legs to its trainer.

"Pi," the man groaned, looking for his Pokemon. "Where's the formula?" His Pokemon leapt to his side. The man pushed himself up, forcing his body into a sitting position, resting his back against the wall. He fumbled, took the small needle from his Pokemon, and opened the back to place the serum tube inside. Hurriedly, the man tore of the suit jacket, not bothering with what state it would be in later, and pulled up the sleeve underneath trying to find his vein. His vision was getting hazier, he needed the serum now.

"I would not do that, SA 06," hissed a voice, drawing the dark man's attention. He had just found the vein, but something stopped him from pushing the needle into his skin and injecting himself with the chemical. He knew that voice and knew that its presence in his room was never a good thing. He hesitated, and in that moment the lights went off, sending him into cascading darkness. He lost the vein and dropped the syringe to the ground. He heard it clatter for a moment and snatched it back up, when it was joined by a second noise. Footsteps echoed through the hazy darkness around SA 06 as he heard the person he despised above all others walking towards him.

The Golden Ranger.

"0," the dark man mumbled, tilting his head to see a darkened figure standing before him. "I need the serum…let me take it." He heard his request laughed at and felt the Ranger's hands bend down, taking the syringe from the dark man's grasp. "No…" He groaned, feeling 0's glove slap him on the side of his face.

"SA 06," 0 muttered, his voice trailing through the darkness. "How nice it is to see you again. Can you not stand for your guest?" He chuckled at his joke. "It seems you need some assistance though." 0 looked from the needle and to the man who required it. "Without this little baby, I am afraid you are going to die soon. Your body cannot take the strain you are being bombarded with. I wish you would just sleep instead of prolonging your nightmares. It will only make it worse when you do finally have to sleep."

"Give me the serum!" the weakening man roared, using the last of his strength up in an effort to obtain it. He extended his legs, grabbing 0's feet, and jerked, forcing the Golden Ranger to lose his balance. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he reached for the syringe, feeling it in his slowly numbing fingers. Rushing, because he was running out of time, the dark man found the vein in the dark, and drove the needle deep into his skin. He pressed on the button on the side of the needle and felt the serum flood into his veins, coursing through his body. He sighed in relief. As his body returned to normal, his vision cleared and he regained his balance.

"Why do you have to keep trying to kill me?" he demanded loudly, throwing his foot out to kick 0's stomach. The Ranger didn't make a single sound, though it probably didn't hurt underneath all the armor he wore, and climbed back to his feet. "You know I need that formula to live now!" The man couldn't see the Ranger's face, but he knew he must have been beaming.

"Your reliance on that drug will get you killed one day," 0 retorted, waving his arm indifferently. The man ignored him, adjusting to the darkness of the room. "You should wean yourself off it soon if you wish to continue your life. One day you will not have that with you, and the time will tick down, and your body will collapse into a coma."

"Let me worry about my own well-being," the other answered stubbornly, "and you worry about yours. Now, what the hell are you doing here? I thought I made it perfectly clear that I don't need you here. It's just a terrorist threat. That's just basic training, especially for me. I can handle this on my own, without you."

"PKM says differently, SA 06, and that is who we both answer to. That is what has been decided, and that is why I am here. Your only order is to obey my commands as the superior agent."

"Bull," the young man snapped back.

"SA 06?"

"What?"

"Could we please dispense with this petty bickering and just get to work?"

"Fine." The man and the Ranger walked towards the balcony, 0 opening the sliding glass door leading outside. The man looked at Pikachu, who nodded and remained where it was, standing guard. It would leave later, to follow the target in the man's absence. The man closed the door behind him, and turned to the dark city that spread before him. He looked towards 0, whose body was still shrouded in darkness.

"Use the SA Cart," 0 ordered, feeling the man's gaze on him. "I don't want civilians identifying you. We need to maintain a low profile here."

The man shook his head. "I'm not using the Cart unless the target's life is in danger. I can just use the grapple gun and a mask. Before we go, I'm going to change into my work clothes. I hate suits." 0 nodded, and the man returned inside. He noticed that his Pokemon was already gone, working in its assignment. He walked into the bedroom, stripping off the suit quickly, leaving him in nothing but socks, boxers, and a tight shirt. He reached into his suitcase, pulling out a regular shirt and some pants, and shoved them on. As an afterthought, the man reached down to take the coat from inside, and grabbed the pair of combat boots sitting next to him, lacing up and ready. When he was finished dressing, the man made certain that he had his communicator with him, along with the SA Cart, and put a black ski mask on over his face which would serve to mask his identity in the streets.

"Now for the tools," he muttered, putting the gun he had concealed in his suit down, and taking from inside the suitcase a pair of strange black gloves, which reached to his forearms. Placing them on, he loaded the grapple cables inside them, knowing that it was highly unlikely that 0 would consent to taking a cab to the convention center. 0 liked to do things the dangerous way. Finished, and having taken only two minutes, the man returned to the veranda, where 0 stood. He had not moved an inch since the man had left. "Ready to go?" The Golden Ranger nodded, and wordlessly jumped off the balcony, plunging to the streets below. The man waited a second, before he followed, leaping off in a single bound, the bright lights flashing before his eyes as he plummeted downwards.

The man was already bored, diving down head first, as he moved one of his grapple gloves up, firing through a palm activated trigger one of the cables. It latched onto a nearby building, and the man waited for the jerk, adjusting his weight so he fell at an angle rather than straight down. As the cable's tow stopped, he felt the jerk as he began to move forward, swinging like an Aipom with a vine through two narrow buildings. As he passed the arc and started moving upwards, he detached the cable he had released, letting it wind back into his glove, while a second one was already aimed and firing at another grapple point. The man didn't see 0 as he continued, the Golden Ranger was probably moving at a much faster pace towards the center than he was. The man shrugged it away, focusing solely on his next grapple shot.

It took him about five minutes to reach the convention center. He landed hard on the concrete ceiling of the center, slowing himself down by grappling at high points, and lowered himself carefully so as not to break any bones. In the shadows near a fire escape door, his commander was waiting for him. The man saw the slight glimmer of gold in the darkness, and headed for it.

"Open the door," 0 ordered, pointing to the escape opening. The man nodded, and pulled out a small set of keys from his pocket which he had been given at the beginning of the assignment. He put the first one in and the key turned, and the hatch opened. The man opened the door and waited for 0 to go inside first, before entering and shutting the door behind him and locking it so no one would know they had been there. "I will disable the cameras," the Ranger murmured, lifting his head to look around. So far, they hadn't been spotted, and the agents wanted to keep it that way. The Golden Ranger reached to his belt, pulling out some kind of transmitter, and switched it on. Static shot from it, and the other man covered his ears at the brief, beginning noise, before it was quiet once more. "Electronic systems are jammed within a hundred meter radius of the transmitter."

"Hey." 0 stopped, and turned back to SA 06. "Do you think you could morph back from the spandex? You know that your suit makes me sick. Plus, I don't think it looks very comfortable in that stupid thing. How hot is it in there, really?"

0 did not answer, and the man did not push the issue. They continued into the darkness, the man's hand tracing its way along the wall, making sure he didn't lose where he was. "So, what exactly are we doing here?" the man asked, as the Ranger slowed down, finally stopping altogether.

0 turned to the second agent. "I do have a face underneath this cowl, rookie," he said softly, touching the metal helmet that he was wearing. "But the face that hides beneath is not my real face. The true face is my mask, and the face beneath the true mask." The man groaned, he hated when 0 started quoting books.

"That makes absolutely no sense," he retorted, brushing past 0 as he continued. "For once, I wish you wouldn't bug the hell out of me. And what are we doing here? I checked everything out earlier today. Nothing lethal in sight."

"You will never be a Ranger," 0 replied, ignoring the man, "unless you can learn to embrace the mask's darkness. You will never hope to become what you what to be." The man stopped ahead of the Ranger, before turning round, fists curled, as the Ranger continued past him through the narrow corridor. "That is why the nightmares come."

The man spat at him. "You don't know anything," he whispered as the Ranger passed, turning to follow the other man through another door in the center. He could see below him the different layers of the center. He saw the cantina he had met her at, he saw one of the arenas the coordinators fought in. It didn't have the same feel as earlier. It seemed dead and lifeless without the people that ran and shouted through it. "The only thing you understand is what you took from me when you made me one of you." He felt the anger brimming within his veins, but stopped it, suppressing the rage. "You could never imagine the pain of my loss, what you took from me."

0 didn't turn around. "I took nothing from you, SA 06. The person responsible for your faults and the collapse of your relationship is you. You took from her, and thus, you stole from yourself. She was, or is, a part of you. Your soul mate. Or, rather-" And he turned over to the man, looking him square in the eyes "-she _was_ your soul mate, until you became unable to handle the difficulty of juggling your assignments and your personal life." He barely spoke, lowering his voice to a whisper, but the man that walked behind him could hear every single, solitary word. "You are the real reason for your failed marriage, and that is the fact of the matter. A true agent would have been able to balance both, and keep her in the dark. You are not a true agent."

"If I recall correctly," the man replied, fighting the urge to slam his fist into the back of the stupid visor of his superior agent, "you didn't give me much of a choice that day. If I recall, you're the one who made me do it."

"You always have a choice, SA 06," the Golden Ranger answered, vanishing into the darkness of the center. The man followed, albeit not as well, slinking through the shadows. "The question is, what was the choice you made?"

"To hate you," he growled instantly, though 0 refused to answer the threat. The man clenched and unclenched his hands, wanting nothing more than to strangle the egotistical moron. _How dare he lecture me, when I am the one who…never mind_. When their work was done, and he was able, he would deal with his anger in the manner of his choosing. He wondered how much the Ranger armor of PKM protected someone…

"You hacked into the files like you were ordered to, correct?" 0 asked, breaking the man's train of thought.

"I got the job done," he grunted, nodding his head. "You were briefed at PKM already about the threat and the prior mission objective. Hacking isn't my strong suit, but I managed to get myself into the Contest. What more do you need?" He didn't wait for 0 to answer, and flipped out the security badge he had obtained for his match the next day. "Everything's taken care of at my end."

0 nodded. "That's very good, SA 06." 0 tilted his head, admiring the arena below him. It allowed such a different angle of viewing the match, he could not help but marvel at its ingenuity. "The target, which I presume you have set your mouse on, is the primary objective, but there is a secondary condition that I myself must take care of. The target may have originally been to observe the Contest and ensure civilian safety, but an anomaly a spy of ours found suggests the plot is deeper than our target."

"What's the anomaly?" the other muttered, focusing on the mission rather than his personal problems, tucking the badge back into his pants pockets.

0 nodded and continued. "In addition to May Birch, we now have to neutralize a bomb threat placed on the contest. PKM has analyzed the problems associated with a leveling of the center, and has confirmed the fault lines surrounding the building would cause a chain reaction throughout the city." He paused for a moment, allowing his associate to absorb the information. "Do you understand what we are up against now?"

He nodded. "I've got it," he replied. The situation was much worse than originally thought. "We look for terrorist devices. Internal bombs, outside attacks, everything. I'll be sticking to the original target. I think the attack, when it comes, will be centered around her somehow. If she, along with the many people here, are assassinated, it will spark an international incident. Hoenn and Sinnoh against Kanto. You know that, right?"

"May Birch," 0 answered, placing his hand on his chin. "Perhaps your hypothesis is correct. You always did have high intuition. However, it is strange that every year, you take this assignment, though this is the first time you have competed. Out of all the interesting cases you qualify for, you select this one: guarding May Birch at a contest. Are your ties not as severed as PKM believes?"

The man shifted, placing his hands into the pockets of his dark coat and leaned against the corridor wall. "My connections with her and my friends were severed years ago, 0. You know that. I come here to see my daughter, if only for a few days. It isn't too much to ask once a year, now is it?"

"She does not need to know you, SA 06," 0 murmured, lowering his head to the ground. "The daughter you once had belongs to you no more. She, along with your wife, are part of the past. You are in the present, and nothing can change that."

The man chuckled. "Why don't you try going like I do, without your own flesh and blood knowing who you are?" he retorted, sensing the burning rage returning. "Knowing that she doesn't even know you exist." He knew that 0 wouldn't answer. The ranger kept to himself under his mask, reserving his own thoughts. The man felt a jolt of rage. He knew better, but sometimes he wondered if there even was anyone inside the uniform. Whoever, or whatever, 0 had been before he was the Golden Ranger, he wasn't that person anymore. Time had transformed the ranger into the spandex that stood before the tall man, turning him into a calculating, battle-hardened machine incapable of understanding the emotions that the dark man still held inside his heart.

"It does not matter now," 0 stated. "What matters right now is the mission, which is more important than whatever lingering feelings you have. They must be held back until the mission is complete. Do not disobey what you what you have been ordered to do." The man grumbled, but knew the ranger was right. 0, satisfied that he had made his point across, reached into his utility belt to pull something out. "I have something else that you need to have." He threw a small, watch-like device to the younger agent. "Put it on."

"What's this?" the second agent asked, staring at the midnight-black watch. It looked expensive, with gold numbers and hands in the circular center. Curious, he put it onto his right hand, where it clamped itself into place, binding both of its sides together. "What does this thing do? It looks like a-"

"-A transfer medium," 0 explained. "A prototype from PKM that they designed for me. It cannot be removed by anyone, including its wearer. If you will notice the detail, it contains a small tracking system, which will allow you to switch between systems on it. It has a small button on the side which allows you to track people and communicate with me easier. It also serves a second purpose."

The man twisted his wrist, finding that the watch, while it didn't move, didn't impede him from moving. It was light, and he could barely feel it on his skin. "What's the secondary purpose, 0?" he asked, turning his attention to the ranger. His hand fell to his waist, as he listened.

"The transfer medium, in addition to acting as a second communicator, will also conserve my powers. PKM has taken into account fatalities with rangers that serve in the field on a regular basis and, while their technology is destroyed if they fall, the technology is equally difficult to recreate. That in mind, my morpher has become equipped with the ability to be transferred to a secondary agent if I should be killed in action." He looked towards the other man, who was not moving but staring at the transfer medium in bewilderment. "Do you understand what that means then, SA 06?"

He slowly nodded. "PKM standard procedure," he recited. "Maintain the illusion that a ranger cannot be defeated. When a ranger is destroyed, they are combusted along with their weapons and morpher. A new ranger is then promoted. You've just sped up the process in between the two. It means that, if you die, I am going to become a PKM Ranger." He looked up to the man, giving him a dirty look. "I know what you're putting in my hands, 0. I've done it before."

"I know, SA 06," 0 replied, beginning to walk once more. "I remember well."

The man didn't want to answer, knowing that 0 was just goading him on, but he couldn't help himself. "I remember how you got me into this crappy job," he growled, stomping after the Golden Ranger. "If you hadn't interfered that day, I wouldn't have-"

0 lost his patience, swerving back to face his junior agent. "Would not have what?" he demanded, with such a fierceness that any man less that the other agent would have backed away. "If you had not done what you had to do, your wife would have died, along with your child. If you had not done it, you would not have realized your destiny. And, if you had not done it, you would not have become what you were born to be. So tell me, SA 06, what would not you have become?"

The other met the ranger square in the eye. "I wouldn't have become a stranger to my daughter," he answered firmly.

"She is not your daughter anymore," 0 retorted. "She does not know your name."

"No one knows my name," the man answered. "I haven't had a single day…when I am granted peace from her unknowing face." He raised his hand to punch the ranger, but overcame his primal urges to attack and lowering his arms. He wasn't proud of who he was, what he had become to protect them. "If I had known what it would cost me in the end, you know I would never have agreed to it." He lifted his face. "But there wasn't a choice. I had to help those people, because you couldn't. I remember you gave me a chance to back out, but I had to save them. I didn't take that choice, did I?"

He felt the gloved hand rest on his shoulder, and 0 looked up to the second agent. "You had a difficult choice to make. The choice was your own, and you must always bear that." The dark man nodded, but that didn't make the pain any easier. "I gave you the choice, to walk away and not to travel down my road of life. You chose to accept the responsibility. Your choices, and what occurred afterwards, are of your own consequence."

"I don't regret saving those people," he admitted, though he did not meet 0's gaze. "But had I known, I would never had done it. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when you gave me that choice, 0!"

"Really?" 0 perked up his head, highly interested in the statement. "Would you, even if you knew what would happen if you did, and what would not have, take back your choice? Would you rather be a civilian, and your wife and child dead, rather than be an unknown to them when they live? You are being selfish, SA 06, and this conversation is over." Finished, and his point made, 0 started moving further into the contest center. Fuming, his anger rising to the boiling point, the man followed, his dark form vanishing into the shadows with the Golden Ranger.


	3. Morph 3

**Morph Three: The Perfect Defense**

There wasn't much he could do in a giant convention. Of course, he could always stop by the booths, but there was nothing he would be interested in. So he kept his head down as he walked, hoping to be unrecognized in a crowd of strangers. His match was in about ten minutes so he decided that it was a good idea to start heading to the arena. He heard his fake name blaring through the loudspeakers and scratched his head. He glanced to Pikachu, who gave a nod of encouragement.

The communicator in his pants vibrated, so the agent dipped his hand inside to grab it. He flipped open the device, and growled lightly at the caller-ID. He clicked the button and put the phone to his ear. "What do you want?" he grumbled as he continued through the crowd.

"Get her alone," the dark voice grunted back.

He stopped briefly, halting the traffic behind him. His hand tightened around the phone. "What do you mean, 'get her alone?'" he asked, resuming his long stride. He veered off to the left and headed for the arena.

"I want you to put a tracer on her," was the response. "Put the tracer in your communicator on her somehow, so we can keep track of her motions. Is that understood, SA 06?"

"You can't do this yourself why?" the man retorted stubbornly.

"Because I want you to do it, SA 06," answered the Golden Ranger. "Do not question my orders, only follow them. I expect you to be on your guard for danger."

The trainer cut the line dead, nodding his head. The little mouse on his shoulder watched him place the communicator into his pocket and resume his stride, his head trained at the floor. The swirls of the crowd passed before him, but he ignored it, and was in return forgotten by the eyes of others. He noticed a few people staring at him, possibly whispering about his upcoming match, but not enough to cause a public stir. He had a natural talent for blending in with his surroundings, his ability to go anywhere without creating a problem with his work was renowned.

He lifted his head and turned to Pi, who was simply staring ahead, its beady eyes tracking any potential threats in the area. "We can do this, right?" he asked the Pikachu, who blinked and turned its head to look at its trainer. It mumbled something to him and he nodded his head, softening the grim expression on his face. "This isn't just another assignment, Pi. This one's with her. I don't want her hurt." He chuckled and lifted his hand to scratch the ears of the yellow mouse. "This is a very conflicting mission, Pi. In more ways in one." The Pokemon nodded its agreement.

It only took another minute to find the battlefield. His side was surrounded by a crowd of people, all of whom appeared to be holding some kind of sign or poster or shirt proclaiming the name of his opponent. As he drew nearer, they began to jeer and annoy him to no end. For a moment, he considered having them shocked by Pikachu, but decided against that. Working all night with 0 had drained him significantly and he hadn't had any alcohol that morning. He was in perfect condition to fight but not to be harassed by his opponent's fans.

"You're going down, rookie," sneered one close by him, a youth of prominent proportions in the mid-section. Likewise, a woman with a sign batted at the air around him, urging him to turn away, to throw the fight, rather than submit to defeat at their favorite's hands. He took it all in and dismissed it just as quickly. Insults he could handle, he was used to it in his line of work. Getting worked up for no reason got him nowhere, so he needed to keep calm to a small degree. Eventually he found his way towards the elevator at the center of the crowd and took out his identification badge. Pressing a button on the side of the machine, he swiped his card through a scanner, which registered his false name and the Pokemon of his choice. He lifted his head as the doors opened with a slight whooshing noise and stepped through. The sounds of her fans followed him, even as he descended down the elevator shaft, which was not, as he had been told prior to the event, soundproof. Apparently hearing the jeers was some sort of psychological torture the creators of the battlefield had designed.

"I wish they would be quiet," he muttered and watched the door. "It makes things much simpler in the long run. But I suppose she would want to hear her name, right?" The mouse looked at him, and shook its head, muttering to itself. Hearing what it had to say, the man turned to it, his brows contracting around his sunglasses. "Well, I have a right to be hurt, don't I?" The Pokemon terminated the conversation. The trainer pressed it no further and waited for the double doors to open and admit him into the arena.

It was brighter than it seemed from above, the lights adjusted to shine on the two trainer platforms. He walked forward with an air of completely unconcern hanging over his head, the exact nature he wished to give off to his opponent. She would underestimate him and she would suffer the consequences. He even yawned, though he was not tired, stretching the arms he had placed in his pockets as he walked into the arena. He saw her on the other side and the pang in his chest started anew. He controlled himself by taking soft, slow breaths before he stopped in front of the platform's end. With a nod to his Pokemon, Pikachu descended from his shoulder to the battlefield below, a metal surface that would be of great use to him.

He turned to his target and, in a loud clear voice that trailed over the dregs above him, asked, "Want to get this started?"

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

From an undisclosed location in the contest center, the darkness hung round the warrior called 0 like a heavy shroud, masking him in the pitch-black of his surroundings. He stood, arms folded across his chest, and stared at the monitors before him, overlooking the people through the contest. Only the glow of the screens cast any light on the Golden Ranger as he traced the people through the center, watching their every move, waiting for a sign of his adversaries.

It was amazing, he thought, the capacity for neglect that humans held. He stood in the abandoned third floor, something that had even been forgotten by the staff of the building. Not that he minded, of course. The floor had its uses to him after all. It allowed a convenient way to observe his target and to order around SA 06. He chuckled to himself, watching the boy wade through the sea of people, eventually wandering into the elevator that would lead him to his battle. He silently watched the approach of his impending battle.

He was at peace, completely isolated from anyone else. The darkness that crept through the third floor, its hallways, even the passageways that led up to it, seemed to reflect the inside of the ranger's mind. It was dark, mysterious, and silent, a hidden puzzle that none would solve. So, hidden above the battlefields, secluded from the public eye, 0 had made his base of operations with a few machines he had brought with him. Nothing too fancy, just standard equipment to tap into security and whatnot. It had been easy to do, PKM's technology was far more advanced than whatever software the convention was using.

He tilted his visor down to stare at the uniform he wore. 0 had worn it for so long that in fact that it represented his true self more than his actual body ever had. "My face is my true mask," he recited, whispering into the void that surrounded him, "and my mask is my true face." That was the way he had led his life as a ranger, as the leader of the rangers.

He watched, switching the security feed he had been viewing, as SA 06 made his way through the crowds, heading for the fourth platform. His expression was one of dejection, certainly, but also of motivation. Some agents could handle complete separation from their attachments, others couldn't, and SA 06 fit into the latter category. "Perhaps his attachments are not a weakness," he pondered, scratching his chin with his fingers. "They serve as a reminder to him, it tells him what he had lost in his line of duty." The memory of loss could often strengthen the resolve of a person, 0 had noted, in his past.

The Golden Ranger then decided that he did indeed have a lot of time to think.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"Oh! Booth babes!"

May inwardly sighed, watching the influence of her friend Brock work on the impressionable mind of her younger brother. In the years since their travels through Hoenn, May had watched time and time again Max reprimand Brock for his unethical behavior in front of women, normally with a violent ear-tug. But here they were years later, a grown-up Max observing the beautiful women that happened to be adorning a nearby area selling food with Brock, the raging hormones of his teenage years still running rampart through his adult body. So, while Sarah clung to her, May tried to think of a way to keep them away.

"You guys are perverted," she murmured, brushing the hair out of her eyes. Max just shrugged and looked to Brock, who nodded in encouragement. "At least control yourselves until later. I think the party for the winners tonight will have a lot of girls at it." Max's eyes perked up at that.

"Fine," he replied, resigned to the fate his sister had dealt him. His head drooped for a moment but he cheered up shortly after. "So, are you nervous?"

She shook her head. "Not really. After a few years you kind of get used to it." She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. "You just need to keep your cool."

"If you say so, sis," he replied, his eyes still firmly trained on the babe booth with Brock. "If you say so…"

"Hey." May grabbed his hair, yanking him back into reality. He yelped, and she released him, only to repeat the process on Brock, who simply turned away from the girls rather than screaming in pain. He was too used to being physically injured. "No booth babes for you two. I need you to watch Sarah while I fight." Max rubbed the offending part of his head, grumbling.

"Yes, Ms. Birch," Max retorted sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "You know we will. You don't have to check up on us like this."

"That, Max," May answered, pointing at the scantily-clothed women, "is the exact reason that I have to keep an eye on you. You're getting worse by the day. Don't let Brock corrupt you with his unending perverted antics."

"Hey!" Brock objected hotly. "What's with the talking about me like I'm not here?"

"The point Max-" she answered, firmly ignoring Brock "-is that you guys had better not take Sarah anywhere that would require me to kill you afterwards."

"Yes, Ms. Birch," Max retorted again, rolling his eyes for the second time. "Just win you're match, okay? Who are you fighting anyway?"

"Keean Toby," she answered. "He was at the dinner last night."

Brock looked up. "Keean Toby? Was he the guy in the black suit with the Pikachu?" May nodded her head and he replied, "Never heard of him."

May nodded. "You're not the only one. I looked him up in the tournament roster last night, but I couldn't find anything except for his name and his Pokemon. No credentials, no family, no nothing. It's like the guy just turned up out of nowhere. No one on the Internet could tell me anything either."

"Really?" Brock scratched his chin, pondering. "Well, if no one knows him, that means you don't know what tricks he'll try. Don't underestimate him, and don't hold back." He patted her head, and took Sarah from her, lifting the little girl onto his shoulders.

She lifted her thumb. "Sure thing, Brock." She looked up to Sarah, who was busy pulling the big man's hair, and giggled. "Now, you be a good girl, Sarah, while I go win this thing." She squeezed her daughter's hand for a moment, then released her. "Keep these two out of trouble, okay?"

Sarah nodded, pulling out a small strand of Brock's hair, which caused him to yelp. "Sure thing, Momma."

"Kick his butt, May!" Max said. "We'll be watching in the stands."

She grinned. "You got it."

She left them then, heading swiftly for the arena. Around her, an assorted crowd of her fans began to gather and shout encouragement from all sides. She smiled, speaking to a few of them as she passed, but waved away the requests for autographs, explaining that there would be time for that after her victory. When she approached her elevator, she slid her entry card through the slot and the doors opened wide to admit her. The crowds cheered, so she waved to them as she walked in. A moment later, the doors closed behind her.

And, as the crowd cheers echoed above her, she waited a while for Keean Toby, who seemed to have either vanished, scared to challenge her, or was waiting for a dramatic entrance. Whichever it was, the giant man showed up moments before the match was to begin with a look of utter confidence of victory on his face.

May watched as her opponent climbed the stairs to face her on the opposite side of the battlefield. Keean Toby didn't seem nervous, like she was. His motions were perfectly natural, as though he wasn't concerned in the least about the battle. He simply yawned, and turned to his Pikachu, who nodded its head and leapt from the trainer platform to the ground below, landing easily on the hardened earth of the battle arena. He then stuck his hands into his pockets, and shifted his head to her.

"Want to get this started?" he asked, in almost a bored tone. May's heart skipped a beat as she reached to her belt for her Pokeball.

"You were almost late," she answered, glaring lightly at him. "Were you trying to get disqualified?" With a small shout, she hurled the ball into the arena. It exploded with a white flash, and from its contents a giant Fire Pokemon emerged, clad in burning flames. The Blaziken roared, beat its chest, and stared down at Keean Toby's Pikachu like a small appetizer.

"If I was," he retorted, bringing his hand up to his lips, "I certainly wouldn't tell you." He turned to the emcee, waiting for the signal to begin the match. "Besides, I like to make dramatic entrances."

The emcee was an elderly gentleman, with a bald spot so shiny the light refracting from it was causing injury to the above audience. May could hear her own name being shouted by the masses, with advice to maul the unknown challenger. Not a single voice was heard to be screaming Keean Toby's name, but that didn't seem to phase the giant man. On the contrary, from the way his grin stuck out from his face, it seemed like he was enjoying being the underdog, because that would make it sweeter if he won.

If, she reminded herself silently. _If he won_.

The emcee raised his hands, and Keean Toby leaned over the side of his platform, like he was trying to get a better view of the battlefield. The moment the emcee's hands dropped, Keean Toby's face transformed from a lazy slacker to one of concentration. His gritted his teeth and his brows narrowed above his sunglasses. May took the initiative, ordering a Blaze Kick from her Pokemon. Blaziken nodded, and charged forward, planning to end the fight quickly.

Keean Toby made no move, and his Pokemon didn't move a muscle as her Pokemon approached. May grinned, it looked like he was going to be a pushover after all. Then Keean Toby made a move that, to May, was unprecedented in all the fights she had ever taken part in before.

He leaned over and shouted, "_Kachu, Pi!_" The second before Blaziken connected, the mouse vanished. Keean Toby followed up, blaring a second command in gibberish. "_Pika, Pi!_" His grin broadened, as his Pokemon reemerged behind the Fire Type, and shot out a streak of lightning from its bolt-shaped tail. May didn't even have time to command her Pokemon to dodge, and the electric attack struck home, smashing into her Pokemon's right leg, circulating through its system. The yellow Pokemon backed away with a grin on its face.

Keean Toby grinned too, and waited for May's reaction. She glared at him, then the emcee. "So this is what you meant," she said to him, clenching her hands. This would require an entire rethinking of her strategy. Few trainers knew how to converse with their Pokemon in their native tongue, because Pokemon understood human language. But, humans couldn't exactly understand the Pokemon languages, not without training. Keean Toby grinned, and threw out his fist.

"That is correct, May Birch," he answered loudly, before turning to his Pokemon. "_Kachu Chu!_" Pikachu nodded and began to run forward, transforming into a bright yellow streak on the floor. May glanced round, but Pikachu started to circle her Blaziken, moving far too quickly to be tracked by a common trainer. Keean Toby, however, seemed to know exactly where his Pokemon was, because he whistled loudly at the blur. The mouse started to generate friction in its legs, creating a spark sound when its paws hit the floor. May stared frantically, trying to figure out his game. She had no idea what the Pikachu was doing, it was worse than being blind!

"Blaziken, get out of there!" she shouted, needing breathing room. The Fire Type nodded, leaping boldly from the circle of death. Keean Toby looked up and smiled.

"_Chu!_" he roared, pointing at his Pokemon. The moment Blaziken's legs touched the ground, lightning began to course through the floor. The chicken didn't have a chance, and was fried to a crisp. Keean Toby flashed his teeth and his Pokemon stared at the panting Blaziken, as though waiting for the final order to decimate its opponent.

May had been so absorbed in Keean Toby's strange fighting style, she hadn't noticed the cheering had stopped. Her crowd of fans was stunned at the abilities of the stranger, and May looked for the first time to see that her point meter was dropping, while her foe's was full. He's using the arena better than I am, she thought, glancing around. The field had changed from the day before, from a harsh earth terrain to a sleek metal surface. His ability to direct attacks that May couldn't understand aside, Keean Toby had the natural advantage in an arena that conducted electricity. Keean Toby was smarter than he appeared.

"Hey!" May's eyes snapped up to where Keean Toby was standing. "You giving up, May Birch?"

She shook her head. "No way! I'm just getting warmed up!"

Keean Toby grunted, in a manner that almost sounded like a dry laugh. "May Birch, you interest me. How's about I treat you to lunch after the match?"

She flashed him a smirk. "If you beat me."

At this, the crowd surged its approval, and Keean Toby returned his attention to the battle at hand. Contests were not his specialty, but he knew how to fight, no matter what the territory was. He glanced briefly at the clock, noticing that he had only a minute or so left. The emcee was blabbering about something, possibly commending the boldness of his attack, but he didn't care. Now was not the time for praise. "_Pikachu Pi! Kachu Chu!_" His Pokemon nodded, bracing itself for its next attack.

May thought hard, trying to figure out a weak link in Keean Toby's strategy. It was flawless, perfect. She couldn't understand him, only the Pikachu could. Blaziken could understand common speech in the Pokemon languages, so it could be assumed that Keean Toby was using some form of code, even in the Pokemon tongue. He's much smarter than I am, she thought. While Keean Toby had attacked her twice, she hadn't scored a hit. And, with another attack imminent, she needed time to think.

Time she didn't have.

"Blaziken, Agility!" she ordered, deciding to fight rather than cowardly wait to lose. Her Pokemon darted forward, burning a trail through the sparking floor. "Now, Sky Uppercut!" Blaziken's right fist came up, burning with white light. Pikachu sat there, perfectly willing to wait for whatever punishment the Fighting Type was preparing to administer. It wasn't until the very last second, again, that Pikachu moved, dodging to the right. Blaziken tried to strike it still, but the injury in its right leg still pained it. Pikachu dropped its tail to the floor, slicing the ground with an Iron Tail attack. The bolt tail caught onto May's Pokemon's leg, and it lost its balance, falling flat on its face to the ground. Keean Toby grinned, watching the final seconds count down. When the final bell rang he smiled briefly, as the crowd erupted into cheers, though he attributed it more to the fact that he had won lunch with May than his actual victory.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The winner, and your second finalist…is Keean Toby!" roared the emcee, but Keean Toby wasn't interested in what the old coot was saying. He shouted his Pokemon's name, and the mouse leapt up from the ground, climbing up to where its trainer stood, arms folded. He was beaming, grinning wildly.

"May Birch!" he shouted over the crowd. "How about we get that lunch?"

May was far too stunned with what had just occurred. Keean Toby had decimated her so quickly that the time limit that seemed so long in her other battles had gone by surprisingly fast on the other end of the spectrum. He had done it with such a simple strategy too, commanding his Pokemon in a manner that couldn't be understood by his opponent. It gave him a permanent edge of surprise. "So that's what he meant," she mumbled, sinking her head against her chest.

"May Birch!" he shouted again, this time gaining her attention. She looked up, and he softened his face into a smile. "How's about we grab that lunch?"

She sighed. A bet was a bet, after all. "Sure," she answered quietly. "Meet me upstairs." She turned to her Pokemon, raised the little ball in her hand to recall it. Blaziken was noticeably dejected, and quickly vanished in the puff of crimson light. He nodded in response, bowing his body lightly. With that, he turned round, and began to walk towards his elevator. May grudgingly walked towards her own, pressing the button a second time to open the machine.

It wasn't the loss, not at all, which got to her. Only the ease that she had lost ate at her, and she would make a point to ask him exactly how he had managed to master his Pokemon's language. Exiting the elevator, she waited for him to come to her.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

He exited the elevator to a stunned crowd of the target's fans, all of whom appeared very angry at him, but didn't seem to have the nerve to do anything to him. Still clutching their signs with her picture, they watched as he blatantly ignored them and headed for the other side of the arena where she was waiting for him, leaned against the elevator. She was disappointed, and she had a right to be, having lost in such a humiliating way to such a humiliating strategy. But he did not care. All that mattered was that, at the end of his mission, the promotion to Special Agent status would be terminated. 0 would be highly displeased, clearly the Golden Ranger had been hoping to keep him an SA to increase the chances of him being promoted to full ranger status one day. Over his dead body.

He stopped about a foot ahead of her, allowing her a moment more to contemplate her loss. Then she did something he did not expect, and raised out her arm. "Great match," she said, congratulating him on his victory. Awkwardly, he raised his hand as well, accepting her handshake. "You creamed me."

"Not too badly," he answered calmly, releasing her arm. "You lasted the time limit. Most people don't last ten seconds with me. You are to be congratulated." The crowd whooped and hollered in a manner he had seen practiced a few times in barns back in Orre, which mildly distracted him from his objective.

"Uh…" May glanced around, seeing nothing but cameras and eager faces. "Do you guys think we could have some privacy?" she asked the paparazzi. As one, the group shook their head, and she sighed.

"I've got this," he muttered, whistling loudly. At once, his Pikachu started to charge up electricity. "I will make this very simple, paparazzi." He turned to the crowd, all of whom were staring at the mouse with caution. "If you are not gone within five seconds, I will order my Pikachu to send several thousand volts through your bodies." He arched his eyebrows, as the group had not scattered. "One…two…three…" As he counted down, the group spread, disappearing quickly. "Five." Pikachu unleashed a single bolt, frying the one fan boy who had the nerve to defy him. She giggled, and watched as the guy wobbled away, sobbing to himself. "Let's go."

"Sure thing," she answered, smiling. "It'll be a nice change, normally I have to leave a region to get some peace and quiet from them." She sighed, shaking her head. "You're lucky, no one knows who you are."

He nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. "_Kachu_," he murmured to his Pokemon, who nodded its head. Pikachu darted off his shoulder, and vanished into the crowd. "Thought we should have some privacy, even if it's only for a little while." She nodded her approval, and they wandered around the convention, finally coming up on a decent restaurant, a nice Kanto café. He opened the door for her gently, as he didn't want to break anything, and followed her inside after sweeping the area in front of the restaurant for paparazzi. Pikachu would take them out if they dared approach, but it never hurt to double-check.

It was a quiet place, with soothing, peaceful music playing in the background. The dark man followed the lady to the back of the café to a private booth. He settled himself in, and found it a bit cramped, though he made do. The coordinator, on the other hand, easily slipped into her side of the table. A waitress appeared moments later, on cue, to deliver menus to the two. The agent waved his away, but the lady took hers.

The waitress, clad in her shirt and skirt, bowed and left, allowing them time to decide what they wanted. The lady glanced at her menu briefly before she set it aside and looked to him. "So tell me about yourself," she said, resting her hands on the table.

"Excuse me?"

She chuckled again, he was an odd one. "Tell me about Keean Toby," she replied playfully. "You asked me out, so I get to ask about you. That's the rule."

"Well…I'm from Orre," he answered slowly, choosing his words very carefully so as not to contradict anything he might have said before. "I have one Pokemon, and my favorite drink is beer. I used to have a wife, but now I don't." He counted these items off on his fingers. "I think that's it… How about you? Tell me about you."

She leered at him, grinning devilishly. "Well…Mr. Keean Toby, I'm pretty average too, by today's standards. I'm from Hoenn, and I have quite a few Pokemon. My favorite drink is cola, but I also like tea. And I had a husband, but now I don't." Like him, she counted off her fingers. "Plus, I have a daughter Sarah."

The waitress returned quickly, noticing that both seemed to have made their decisions. "Have you made your selections?" she asked. May nodded, and handed her menu back to the young lady, who tucked it under her arm. "What'll it be?"

"I'd like some green tea please," May replied politely. The waitress wrote down the order, then turned to the man, who was tapping his hands on the table.

"And for you, sir?"

He looked up, and grinned. "I'd like a beer, if that's not too much trouble."

Her eyes widened slightly. "This early in the afternoon?" she asked. He nodded politely, and she wrote it down in her small notebook. "Okay, one green tea and one beer. Those should be out for you in a moment." She bowed again, then caught herself. The lady, recognizing the glint in the waitress' eye, groaned inwardly. "Hey, you're…"

"Yes…" she murmured, lowering her head.

The waitress' eyes shot wide open. "Can I, like, have your autograph," she asked eagerly, holding out her notebook and her pen to the famous coordinator. She sighed, but took the book from the waitress anyway.

"Sorry," she told the waitress, "it's just that after so many times doing this, it starts to get a little old." The waitress nodded, and apologized, but the lady shook away the apology with a brush of her hand. "Being famous isn't all it's cracked up to be." She smiled, and scribbled her name down on the pad before handing it back to the waitress.

She took the notebook away, and bowed a third time before disappearing to get their orders. "Nice kid," he muttered, chuckling. "Bit of a blonde, though the color's gotta be fake." She laughed in agreement with him.

She came back a minute later, holding a steamy mug of water with a tea bag on the saucer in one hand and a bottle of cold beer in the other. They thanked her and settled in with their respective drinks. It wasn't bad, thought the man, sipping on his beer, listening to her stories. It was actually pleasant, a nice distraction from what he was there to do. He didn't talk much about himself, there wasn't much really to tell, and not much that he was really allowed tell her.

His phone vibrated and jerked him away from their talk. He took it out of his pocket. He groaned inwardly at the caller-ID. "Sorry, I've got to take this," he muttered, excusing himself from the table. "Be right back." He stood up from the table and headed for the bathroom, vanishing down the corridor and into the room. He ignored the smell in the room, which bore a vague resemblance to some strange flower. "Talk."

0's voice seemed rushed. "SA 06, we have a problem." No wonder, thought the man, leaning against the wall.

"I'm with the target now. What's the situation?" he asked.

"I have received word from our sources that a bomb has been detected within the vicinity of the target. The origin is unknown, but it is safe to assume that it will be used on her."

The agent nodded. "Details. What's it look like?"

"Unknown. But tiny, not particularly large. Search for small objects around the target."

"Got it." He shut off the communicator, and exited the bathroom. He tucked the phone inside his pocket and put on his most cheerful face, which was without a doubt his most Herculean feat. He didn't do cheerful very often. He sat down at the table and looked it over, searching for anything suspicious. But there was nothing out of the ordinary. Just his beer, and her tea.

"Hey." He looked up, snapped out of his scanning mode. "You alright?" she asked, a look of concern on her face. "Who called? Was it bad?"

He shook his head. "Nobody important," he answered truthfully. "Just a work thing, nothing that big." He sniffed the air, detecting something odd. "How's your tea?"

She took a sip of the green tea. "It's not too bad," she replied. "It's got a kind of weird taste to it, but it's not bad."

"May I try some?" he asked, setting down his beer. "I've always wanted to try green tea before."

She nodded, and held out the mug. "Certainly," she said. "But not too much."

He chuckled. "Of course." He raised the cup to his lips, and pretended to drink, pursing his mouth. He sniffed the surface, detecting the strange scent he had noticed earlier. The vague smell of sulfur. And, within the small tea bag, a slight blinking device that was speeding up.

He tossed it, smashing it against the wall just as the bomb detonated.

The dark man lunged forward, grabbing onto her with both of her arms, and threw her on the floor, shielding her with his body. The explosion rocketed through the café, sending smoke everywhere. Around him, he could hear children screaming, men crying out in pain as the impact struck them, and women running away for fear. Blaring into his ear, the target's shouts of confusion burned a hole in his mind, weakening his concentration. When the last fragments of the blast fell to the floor, clattering against the tiled floor, he lifted his head, turning to the booth they had been sitting in.

"Miss Birch," he whispered, so only she could hear, "get everyone out of here. I shall try to see what is going on." Scared, but not letting it get the best of her, she nodded her head, and crawled out from underneath his frame. He watched as she hustled the injured out of the café, and turned his attention to the hole that had formed in the center of the wall, where a person was entering. And the agent had a sneaky suspicion he wasn't from the maintenance department.

It was a spandex.

Well…not exactly a spandex. It didn't seem to have the same costume as the spandexes that PKM had created. This one, rather than having its color on its chest and visor, was clad entirely in black, with an ebony gem embedded into its chest. Its head turned, staring from the decimation it had created to the dark man, whose hand was reaching into his pocket, pulling out a silver phone from his pants, along with a small cartridge.

"What are you?" the dark man demanded. The spandex-wannabe glanced at him with apparent indifference. "Answer me!"

It took a step forward. "Where is May Birch? Tell me, idiot, and I may allow you to live." The trainer grinned, taking a step of his own.

"First off," he said, lifting the hand with his phone, "I'm not an idiot. And secondly, Miss Birch doesn't seem to be any of your concern. Can I help you?"

The thing almost seemed to smile, underneath its dark visor, before it blurred before the dark man, smashing its fist deep into his gut. The dark man chocked, then felt his feet leave the ground for a split second, before he smashed into the wall, sinking to the wall amidst the falling debris. The thing, its attention once again focused upon its quarry, began to walk out of the diner and into the world beyond.

He was not amused.

"0!" he roared, bursting out of the rubble that surrounded him. "Get your ass down here and do something about this!"

The phone rang, and he jammed it to his ear. "What do you think you are doing?" the Golden Ranger hissed, blaring into his eardrums. "Finish it!"

"How? It's not like I do the damn pose!" He ran to the ruined door and watched the thing make its way through the crowds, apparently requiring no directions to reach wherever she was hiding. "Get down here!"

"Do it yourself, SA 06," he retorted. "What do you think the cartridge is for? An accessory? Do it!"

He levered the cartridge towards the phone as the line went dead, and the communicator opened up as if commanded, exposing a containment unit for the cart to be slipped inside. "You've got to be kidding," he muttered, as his hands moved against his will to fit the device into the com-link. "I've got to do this again?"

He had a choice to not do it. He didn't take it.

"Let's do it!" he roared, firmly slamming the phone shut. It started flashing, binding him with a suit of armor. It seemed strange to him that a suit of armor would materialize anywhere, much less upon him, but he had done it before, and was adjusted to the strange transition that accompanied it. Silver and black armor clad his form, the same color as the SA Cart. A silver helmet covered his head, with a black visor masking his eyes with a thin line just barely visible. Black gloves and boots covered his hands and feet, with the rest of the uniform being pure gray, save for the ebony belt.

"Transformation complete," he muttered, rushing forward the second the light died down. The suit's visor instantly got to work, operating on overdrive to detect the opponent. "Suit, scan for the target." The suit did so, locating by way of heat sensor's the exact place that she was being trampled by dozens of others eager to escape the building. Sweat formed on his brow, the suit was rather warm, as he rushed through the crowds. They parted easily, despite the easily visible identification on his back that read in bolded letters he was from PKM, and he burst through them.

"Pikachu, where is it?" he demanded, opening the channels of communication for his Pokemon. It responded in an instant, telling him that the thing was only a few yards away from her location. He sped up, utilizing the strange gears and propulsion systems used in the SA uniform's legs to press on.

And there it was. She, on the floor, terrified out of her mind, and the thing, holding up a sharp black knife above her head. He increased his speed, watching the knife fall…and reached his arms out to stop it.

He grabbed the arm of the thing, just before the knife impaled itself in her skull, hunched over in rage. "You are under arrest for attempted murder," he said, as the thing strained against his grip. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed for you." He lifted his head, his visor staring into the darkness of his foe's costume. "Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"

In response, the thing attacked him, giving him the impression that it not only understood, but that is also didn't care. It tried to break his grip on its arm and slashed at the SA uniform he wore. He dodged quickly, ducking under the blow, knowing that even the armor the SA uniform provided him would be cut under his opponent's dagger. It slashed at him again, attempting to decapitate him.

But the young agent had not gotten to where he was by being a slacker, and easily avoided the attacks. He drew the thing away from her, forcing it to deal with him rather than her. By now, most of the center was away, and he could hear police sirens outside, though the police wouldn't come anywhere near the inside. 0, with all his expertise, would have already finished telling them to remain outside as backup, as a PKM agent was already on the scene.

"Hey, 0," he muttered through the communicator in the suit. "What are the rules?"

"None," answered a crackled voice. "Dispose of the body in the manner that suits you best."

He grinned beneath the mask. "Got it."

He grabbed the thing by its arm, and very calmly, but very forcefully, tore the knife from its hand, throwing it away. It embedded itself into the wall, and the dark trainer followed up his attack, smashing his fists into its head, downing it in two blows. His breath was ragged, watching its body fall to the ground and cease moving. His hand was still extended, until he noticed her again, and returned it to his side.

"In a few moments, the police will come," he muttered, his voice reverting to monotone. He still needed to preserve the false identity he had given her. "You need to get out of here before then." He extended his arm to her. "I will help you."

She sat there, crouched on the floor, staring up at her silver savior. Tentatively, she reached up with a shaking hand, touching the gloves that masked the man's hands. "W-what is that?" she asked with a quivering voice, looking towards the thing that lay on the ground.

"I do not know," he answered as best he could. "It was after you. Do you know why?" She shook her head in response, but her knees gave in, and she fell lightly, only to be caught by the silver warrior, who held her gently in his arms. "The police will be on the scene with their forces momentarily. You need to be gone from here before then or else it will only be worse for you." He noticed her weight shift around his arms. "Can you stand?" he asked her and she nodded delicately.

"Who are you?" she asked him, her savior. His head turned away for a moment, then he looked at her again and he knew she could feel the sadness that came from him in waves, radiating from his body like an aura.

"Mommy?" Both of them turned, surprised that a third person would be present, and turned to see the little girl with the pigtails, whose eyes were full of tears. "Mommy?" she asked again, Sarah Birch's eyes full of confusion. She shook lightly, and the silver agent released the woman in his arms, allowing her to comfort her child. Besides, he thought, it would hardly be a good thing for a child to see her mother being held by a stranger wearing a mask, even the stranger who had saved her mother's life.

"She is fine, little one," he whispered hoarsely, his breath growing ragged. His heart rate was increasing, which was strange considering the threat had been neutralized. He watched the mother and daughter hold one another, standing apart. Then he coughed slightly, prompting their attention. Both turned towards him, with glowing eyes, and he felt the space in his chest throb. "We need to leave. Now. They will be here soon, and we need to get away by then."

"Mommy's okay, right?" the little girl asked, unsure of whether to trust the stranger's words.

He nodded, straightening himself. "She will be fine," he promised the little girl, tilting his head downwards to stare into her coal black eyes. Her trembling face and his faceless visor looked into each other. "If you will let me, I will get you both out of here." He glanced to the side, hearing voices and the sounds of footsteps, and jerked back towards the girls. "Let's go!" He extended his hand to the woman, who took it carefully and ran for it, hurrying away from the entrances and towards the exit.

For just a moment, when he touched her hand, he remembered the times before the uniform, before he began hiding from her. But he brushed the memories aside, and rushed onwards. Thankfully, he got them out in time to avoid the masses that spread into the convention center, dodging the people that fled into the center. Through the communications in the visor, he heard 0's voice saying something, but it was blotted out of his mind, replaced by the urge to get her to safety.

He made it to the elevator that he and 0 had used earlier that morning, raising his communicator and issuing a command. "Open," he ordered the lift, and the door opened automatically. He jumped in, beckoning the others inside. They leapt to join him without question. "Close." The doors shut on command, and the elevator whirled to life. He watched her cling to the child, and released his grip on her hand, as there was no longer any need to hold it.

"Pikachu, take us to level three," he ordered privately, using the secondary communicator to speak solely with his Pokemon. He heard it squeak in response, and his stomach jerked as the elevator rose. He waited, motionless, until the dim glow of the center faded away into total darkness, and it grew to a slow halt.

Then the trio plunged into total darkness.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"Hello?" May asked, blinking repeatedly. She couldn't see anything, not her daughter, not her mysterious savior, not even the nose on her face. The faint breathing of her silver hero had ceased, she could sense him standing only a foot away from her, waiting for the elevator doors to open. The door hissed as it opened, and he stepped through quickly, sure of his footing. "Excuse me." The footsteps stopped, and May took a tentative step forward, hesitating briefly before she left the elevator, her hand securely attached to her daughter's. "Where are we?"

"Somewhere safe," the silver warrior answered carefully, masked in the darkness that surrounded him. He touched her shoulder as she approached him, remembering that she could not see through the dark as he could. She was guided by the man forward, towards several sets of glowing screens yards away, in front of which another masked figure was waiting, arms crossed and face crestfallen.

"0," her savior started, but the second figure held up his hand, and the rescuer fell silent. The man called 0 took several steps forward to where they were standing, and slapped the silver-clad man across his visor. May's rescuer jerked his face to the side for a moment, but then turned himself back to his superior, staring down at 0 with a contempt that May felt radiating through the air.

"SA 06," 0 retorted in a low hiss, his distain evident through the impatience in his tone. "I demand to know what they are doing here." He turned his head, glancing May and Sarah up and down, sizing them up. "This violates protocol, SA 06. Bringing a target to the base of operations unless a dire need is present is a direct violation of the rulebook." He took a step forward, leaning his head up to the junior agent so that barely an inch of air separated their visors.

SA 06, as he had been called by 0, was apparently in no mood for any of the other agent's garbage. "The public was preparing to compromise our position, 0," he protested calmly, trying as best he could to hide the hatred in his tone. "Weren't you paying attention to what was happening downstairs, 0, or were you fine with watching a real agent handle things for once?"

0 betrayed nothing in his voice. "The threat was already neutralized," he stated calmly, turning back to his computers. "The only threats are the police that cannot even maintain law and order in this facility." He jerked his thumb backwards, pointing at Sarah and May. "You have jeopardized yourself by bringing the two of them here." SA 06 felt a strange jerk on his uniform, and noticed the little girl hiding behind his uniform, clearly afraid of the darkened gold 0 wore. May joined her daughter, siding with the silver savior.

"You're wrong," the other snapped, turning his head to May, who nodded her head in encouragement, despite being unsure of what all was going on. "If you feel that strongly about it, I can use my Eraser on both of them to make them forget about this place."

0 nodded his head. "Afterwards, remove them from the scene. Leave no traces."

"E-excuse me." Both men turned to May Birch, who had taken her daughter in her arms, very confused. "Could you please explain what's happening here, and what just happened downstairs?"

The one called 0 shook his head, while SA 06 took something out of his belt, a small stick-like object. "You are a target of an unknown terrorist organization, May Birch," 0 answered mechanically. "The being that attacked you has been detained, but is probably not the only one of its kind looking for you. If necessary, we have reason to believe they will kill you." He lowered his gaze down, to the little girl. "And you as well."

"Mommy?" Sarah asked, looking up to May.

"You will both be fine," he continued, looking to SA 06, who had prepared the device for use. "In a moment, we will be taking you back to your hotel room, where you will awaken without any memory of this place." He nodded to the silver agent, who approached them, his hands holding the stick up to their eyes. It wasn't very big, only a little bit taller than his palm, with a red, glowing 'eye' at the end. "Are you ready?"

May shivered, but nodded her head. She glanced from one to the other, from the one who gave the orders to the one that followed them. SA 06 did not hesitate, but from his still movements she could sense that he was reluctant to follow the orders he had been given. "Who are you?" she asked suddenly, right before the bright flash.

"We are PKM," she heard, as the flash of light engulfed her senses. "We will be protecting you." What she found odd was that the voice did not belong to either SA 06 or 0. It was warm, and oddly comforting. It was familiar, and it warmed her heart.

It was _his_ voice. Though it was hazy, it sounded just like him. The voice of the dark warrior.


	4. Morph 4

**Morph Four: It's Morphing Time!**

He watched her through her window, still clad in the silver uniform that he had worn to rescue her. On his shoulder, his Pokemon chirped at him and he shrugged. "0 told me to take her to the hotel," he answered, pulling out a set of binoculars from his belt. "He didn't say come back, so I'll leave when I'm ready."

He had been there for an hour, ever since he had snuck her in through her hotel room window. She was resting peacefully, though she would sometimes twitch in her sleep. Sarah was in bed with her, snuggled calmly against her mother's body. He just watched them sleep.

Suddenly, the mother shot up, eyes wide with fright. Her lips moved as she called out for someone, and his eyes widened in surprise as he read what she said. He watched as her head swung around in the darkness, clearly confused as to where she was. He suppressed his grin, considering that she looked pretty cute terrified. She always had. Only difference from then and now was that he couldn't wrap his arms round her and protect her.

It was pitch-black in her room, but darkness was a handicap the agent had long ago dealt with. His target, however, squinted for quite some time before becoming adjusted to the shadows. She was breathing heavily, scared. He didn't blame her. He had only erased the time between seeing 0 and his promise to watch over her. The rest was there. The explosion. His uniform. He had decided against deleting everything. It would have leaft her without a way to defend herself. She would be on guard now, and it was all the warning he was allowed to give her.

She stood up from the bed, her eyes gazing tenderly toward her child. Sarah was at peace, resting comfortably underneath the covers, her thumb tucked safely into her mouth. She softened, and walked around the room. Her hands lowered onto the phone and her hands dialed the lobby. He watched her speak for several minutes before she hung up, sighing in relief. _Must have been about Max and Brock_. Neither of them had died, though both had sustained fairly serious, but treatable, wounds.

She stopped by the bedside and brushed her daughter's hair. His eyes widened underneath his visor, and he pressed the binoculars into his eyes. He glanced to his Pokemon, who nodded solemnly. "0 said nothing about interaction either."

He collapsed the binoculars and stored them into his belt. He reached for a small grapple gun and aimed for the balcony of her hotel room. He pulled the trigger and a long coil burst from the gun, striking hard in the steel of the wall. He detached the rope and fixed it to the edge of his lookout point. "Pi, head back to the contest center, and see how we're doing. I'll be back soon." The Pokemon nodded and vanished into the night. The agent grabbed onto the rope, and jumped off the building, sliding down the coil to her balcony. He felt a slight warmth on his fingers from the rope, but ignored it. Under him, the lights of the night had come on, displaying a wide variety of signs and cars.

He landed on the balcony with a small thud, and his rope detached from the metal surface of the wall. He wound it up, though it took some time, and placed it into his grapple gun. Behind him, the sound of the sliding glass door alerted him to the fact that he was no longer alone. He didn't turn around, but waited for her to walk out onto the balcony. She had seen him from inside her room. "Hello," she murmured, with a slight note of fear in her voice.

"Hello," he replied carefully, placing the gun away, and leaning against the wall, firmly staring at the building he had just come from. She approached him from his left side, her stride cautious.

"A-are you the man from earlier today?" she asked as her eyes trailed over his uniform. He folded his arms, but nodded his helmet. "Thank you."

He remained silent for a minute. Her voice was soft and calm, an exact opposite what ran rampart through the dark man's mind. It was difficult to maintain his composure around her. "It was nothing," he answered her. "I just did what I had to do."

She rested herself against the wall beside him, though her head was tilted to watch his. Every fiber of his body wanted to turn to her, to touch her, even in the SA uniform, but he resisted, and forced his arms to stay folded against his chest. "Thank you for watching over me and my daughter." She glanced back at her daughter's sleeping form. "She always needs someone to look after her."

He did not look back at her daughter. "It is my duty to protect you. That protection extends to your daughter, May Birch." He stopped suddenly, as her arms wound their way around his own, and he felt her head rest against his shoulder. "My orders are to keep you safe."

"Your orders…?" She glanced up at him, a look of confusion in her eyes. "What is going on?"

"That information is classified."

"Classified?"

"It means I cannot tell you."

"Why?"

He sighed, and bent his head. "It would place more danger on you, and your daughter. Knowledge is power. Until then, please protect yourself as best you can. I can only do so much."

She nodded. "Of course," she replied. Then, a thought entered her mind, and she looked up to him. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"If it does not violate my orders."

"Who are you beneath that mask?"

"Nobody." That was the definition of a PKM agent. "This suit is designed to protect me from anyone knowing who I am. I am a nobody, just a protector."

She nodded. "Of course," she replied again. "Did you ever have a name?"

"I did," he answered. "Before I was an agent, I used to have a name. It was lost the day I joined, along with the face beneath this mask. I used to be very happy, before I became part of this. I used to be."

"It sounds terrible," the lady said, snuggling closer to him. "Why do you stay in it, then, if it cost you your happiness?"

He moved for the first time, and tilted to glance down at her. She looked up into his dark visor. "There is someone more important than my happiness," he answered. "Someone that I sacrificed that happiness for. It is terrible, but it was a choice that I made of my free will. And it is worth it sometimes, when I remember that I was able to save that person."

She sighed, gazing up into his mask. "Do you ever wonder if that person thought that your happiness was worth it?"

"I do not know the answer to that question," he said, and returned his gaze towards the building in front of him. "People change. I have changed. How they change is the reflection of their choices. In the end, I would never be able to answer for that person like that. I'd like to think that person is the same as when I saved them, but I will never know. I do not exist anymore. I am a nobody."

She shook her head into his shoulder. "You're not a nobody," she murmured. "You're our hero."

He straightened himself, pulling away from her. "Do not be so quick to judge me. I wear a mask, my shield against my true self." He turned back to her, pulling out the grapple gun from his belt. "Never judge a book by its cover."

He aimed, and fired the cord against a building in the distance. It latched, and he grabbed the robe, jumping onto the balcony's edge. "It was nice talking to you," she said behind his back.

He didn't look back. "I will be continuing my surveillance of you elsewhere. I may have already alerted other parties to this location." He lied, knowing that anyone after her already knew where she was. The truth, that he couldn't bear the pain weighing in his chest any longer, was probably best kept confidential.

"I'll be seeing you, May Birch," he finished, before he jumped down from the building. He heard a slight gasp from the balcony, but he was far away before too long. He descended in an arc, propelled by his momentum. The wind rushed around his helmet, and his monitor showed the coordinates he should take, which would lead him back to the contest center.

"I'll be seeing you," he muttered to himself, before he lost himself within the swings and leaps that accompanied his mode of transportation.

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The dark man entered the center the next day, and everything was as it was. He passed the area he had had drinks with the target, and noticed that it was closed due to faulty wiring. PKM had worked fast, he thought, and glanced over the ruined space. No one else seemed to notice it, he saw, looking over the crowd of strangers. Something had changed in the sea of people he swam through. For one, some looked at him, whispering amongst each other in low voices. They were talking about his win the previous day, hushed murmurs that ceased the moment he spotted them. The crowd seemed to part away from him, allowing him the space to move freely.

The official story that PKM had circulated was an electrical over-surge. Everyone had bought it, at least after they had lost their memories. Erasers were truly remarkable instruments, capable of deleting anything inside a person's brain. Usage of them was, of course, strictly limited, but he tucked his own onto his pocket, just in case.

Today was business as usual at the center. Both he and 0 had made certain that tracers were now in place to determine any potential threats and the tracker that he had placed on the target's Pokeball would be invaluable. For now, however, he had to go to a battle, or a Contest, whatever it was they were called. Either way, he was scheduled to lose. He didn't want the glory of a victor's laurel. That part of his life had ended some time ago.

His final battle would take place in the second arena, so that was where he headed, ignoring the blatant stares of the crowd. On his shoulder, his Pokemon was hard at work, sniffing around to be certain that everything was all right. Its nose was far more powerful than most of the sensors anyway.

"Anything yet?" he asked it, but it shook its head, murmuring something to him. "Well, give it some time. Most terrorists don't give up on the first try." Pikachu nodded, then squeaked to him again, asking about the night before. He groaned lightly in response. "Nothing happened, Pi. We just...talked. I gave her a little heads up on what's going on so we don't have to protect her to an extreme. She'll be on her guard."

He terminated the conversation, and straightened out his dark leather jacket. "I packed too much gold," he murmured, ruffling out the shirt he was wearing. "I think it gives 0 ideas." Thought it wasn't official protocol, more often than not Rangers themselves wore their color even in civvies. And for some reason, all civilian gear assigned to him kept coming up with some bit of gold in it when he was assigned away from PKM. He sighed. "Better than if they gave me blue I suppose." His name had come up more than once in papers for filling the vacant Blue Ranger position. His excuses were terrible, often running the lines of the fact that blue simply was not his color, or that he wasn't a big fan of the number 2. But so far they had kept him out of a spandex.

Before the match, the organizers had organized some kind of publicity stunt for the photographers and the cameramen. He spotted his opponent, Drew, already flexing and posing for the cameras. The boastful cries from his opponent were incredibly annoying, thought the dark man, as he stepped up onto the platform.

The judge, the old man from the day before, was shouting out the name Keean Toby into the crowd, and they booed. Again. He shrugged his shoulders.

He noticed a microphone shoved under his nose, and glanced at the judge. "We were wondering whether you'd like to answer some questions from the crowd," he explained.

"No." He glanced at his opponent, who seemed to have lost all of his focus by staring at a rose. "Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words, after all. So, if my opponent wishes to make any statements, or the crowd wants to, how's about doing it in combat, where it matters?"

The crowd shouted its approval of the statement, while Drew looked as though he had just been slapped. His face became flustered, and he started ranting, but the dark man simply tuned him out, and enjoyed the fact that Drew was only getting angrier. Pikachu copied its trainer.

"You're…you're going down!" he finished, pointing his rose at the trainer. "You hear me?"

"No," he murmured, just so that Drew could hear him.

The judge, with a bit of effort, took the microphone away from Drew, who fumed for the rest of the introductions. Then, the semifinalists who had not gotten into the finals stepped up. Dawn beamed alongside May who, while disappointed, played the crowd well, and threw her support to him.

One of the audience members, a beefy otaku, asked a question. "What do you think of the match today, May? Who do you think will emerge the winner?" he inquired with a nasally voice.

She just laughed. "Well," she answered, glancing at the dark man. "I think both have great chances today, but I really think that Keean Toby will come out on top. His impressive strategies, and his quick thinking, despite the fact that he's not well-known by the Coordinator community, make him the best choice."

Drew's face turned bright purple with suppressed rage.

"And what about Drew?"

She grinned and looked towards the man. "If he can put away his rose and concentrate, he just might have a chance." The crowd erupted into laughter.

Beside himself, the dark man chuckled, covering his mouth with his hand to suppress his laughter.

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May Birch noticed that, the moment the pre-match insult fest ended, Keean Toby ducked away, vanishing into the swirl of reporters and fans. She looked around, and finally spotted his fleeing figure well away from the crowd, heading in the direction of the Orre cantina she had met him in. She turned to Drew, whose face was still bright crimson. "I'm gonna go with him. He's kind of flaky, and I'll make sure that he makes the Contest."

Drew just grunted, and turned away from her to a crowd of fan girls that had gathered around him. Smirking, May dove through the paparazzi horde like a pro, ducking past the fan boys and their questions, until she reached the giant shape of Keean Toby. She reached up, and gave him a sharp tap on his left shoulder. He turned around, just as she dodged to the right, confused. Shaking his head, he jerked as she surprised him, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.

"You planning on ditching?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Just getting something to drink. I haven't had anything all day, and I think some beer would hit the spot right before a big fight."

"Is beer all you drink?" May inquired, cocking a brow.

He nodded. "I like the taste," he replied before he resumed his stroll. She picked up the pace, as his massive strides covered more ground than her legs could, and started walking by his side. Strangely, when she was with him, she noticed that fewer otaku bothered her, and the few with the guts to try turned away at the sight of Keean Toby.

"Hey." Keean Toby looked down towards her, and glanced to the right. She followed his gaze and saw what appeared to be a large, hairy man with a camera staring at them. "Looks like a nerd wants some shots of you, Ms. Birch. Whatever shall we do?"

"Let's ditch him," she suggested and Keean Toby nodded his approval. He took her hand and ducked into the swirling masses that surrounded them. The large man jerked out of his hiding spot in confusion and scanned the vicinity for them. Meanwhile, Keean Toby led May away into the sea surrounding them, both wanting nothing more than to simply find someplace quiet to relax before the match.

They resurfaced in what appeared to be a small bookstore. Keean Toby was amazed. The Center appeared to have everything a person could possibly want out of an event like this, though further reflection reminded him that this was such a huge event it would be more unlikely for it to have every kind of ware that could be brought under its roof. The patrons inside were very confused, some concerned, as the two bolted inside and slammed the doors shut, trapping the dreaded paparazzi out of the store.

May felt tired, her face was red from the chase, despite the fact that lately she had been going to a gym specifically to dodge the paparazzi, most of whom were out of shape in comparison to her. She leaned herself against Keean Toby to steady her body. "Well, that was fun," she muttered dryly, and giggled.

Keean Toby softened his face, his mouth almost formed a smile. "If you say so, Ms. Birch," he remarked, and helped her to her feet. "It probably wouldn't be a good thing for the Contest for someone to be trampled to death. Bad publicity."

May, as she was helped by Keean Toby, couldn't help but notice that she spent a lot of time staring at him and his tanned, muscled body, probably the result of whatever training he had undergone in Orre. The giant mesh of ebony hair that shot everywhere and nowhere, covering everything above his nose on his face. She felt his hands lift her to her feet and marveled at how they contradicted his fierce appearance. They were hardened, certainly, but with a touch of softness that May had felt somewhere before, she sensed that, but could not remember where.

"Where do you work out?" she asked.

He tilted his head as if in confusion, then chuckled. "Nowhere. It's an after-effect of my training," he replied. "I don't have much to do, so I tend to do what I can to stay active. Pi and I work out a lot, and train for various Contests and matches. That's how we earn our keep."

She almost blushed at him. "It-it really suits you," she stammered, doing her very best not to stare.

"Thank you for the compliment," he said rather awkwardly, and fell silent. He wanted to change the subject, so he pointed outside the door and feigned a grin. "So, how long have you been fighting those idiots? I'm an unknown, so I wouldn't know how it feels to be hounded day and night by those lunatics."

"I guess you get used to it after a while," she answered, "or, at least, you're supposed to. To this day, I still have to keep a lock on my underwear drawer at home." Keean Toby laughed and May blushed, amazed that she had told him that. "Come on, let's stay here for a while. At least it's quiet." She smiled up at him, though she could sense that he knew she was simply distracting him from her statement.

He nodded and decided it would be best to forget what she had just told him. "Of course, Ms. Birch," he said politely and began to follow her into the bookstore.

They wandered through the small area, and Keean Toby would sometimes find something entertaining to glance over. He didn't try to hit on her, which was unprecedented in May's experience, having gotten so used to the limelight that it was almost unheard of. He would walk behind her, allowing her to lead him anywhere she wanted, but he seemed distant and quiet, as though observing her for some reason. She shrugged off the strange feeling of déjà vu welling up inside her and laughed, a genuine giggle rather than the false one that she tried to cover up her real laugh. As a result, he did not notice when a small book came at him and pelted him in the face.

Keean Toby staggered as he rebounded from the blow, knocking into a few of the shelves as he recomposed himself. He heard the vague buzz of laughter coming from May and groaned. "This is funny how?" he asked her, rubbing his nose. He winced, feeling a sharp sting from the blow on the bridge of the nose. "It's not nice to throw stuff at people…"

May bowed her head in apology. "I'm…so…sorry," she gasped between giggles, attempting to cover her mouth. "I was trying to…gain your attention…and you looked out of this world. I didn't mean to knock you down."

Keean Toby straightened himself and saw that he had caught the book in his hands with his reflexes. "Nice you find it funny," he grumbled. As he rose from where he had bumped into the shelf, a very irritated person, probably the owner, came up towards them, shaking his finger at them. He glared up at Keean Toby particularly, barely taller than the Orre trainer's chest, but with a moustache that drooped over both sides of his face.

"Hey!" he shouted, smacking Keean Toby hard on the head, despite their differences in height. "You two young things keep it down! I have things to sell to much nicer people than crazy people who bang into things in my store."

Keean Toby said nothing, not used to being reprimanded by people half his size, so May answered for the both of them. "Sorry, mister," she said, bowing deeply. "My friend and I are trying to find out where your nonfiction section might be. Could you tell us where?"

The manager snorted, but pointed his finger in a direction to their left. "Over there," he mumbled, before he pointed his finger right back into the Orre trainer's stomach. "But keep him away from the merchandise." He raised his brow. "He looks like a shoplifter." The manager then left them alone.

Keean Toby grumbled at the bookkeeper's back. "Thieves don't look as good as I do." He turned back towards May, who was already leading him into the shelves. The bookkeeper shook his head, and muttered something under his breath before he returned to his shelving.

Keean Toby tucked the book under his arm and followed her into the store, all the while wondering exactly why May had thrown the book at him. "Hey, why'd you throw this at my head?" he asked, and glanced at the book's title. "What's this?"

May stopped, and her face was tinted with a slight crimson. "It's just a little something that helped me get through a rough patch in my life. I've noticed that you always seem pretty…" She looked up, as though she had trouble placing the word she wanted to use "…lonely. Aside from that Pikachu, I haven't seen you really speak to anyone outside the Contest."

"I like my privacy," he answered and tucked the book back under his arm. "I don't have any friends except for Pi. I've been with that Pikachu for a long time, it's smarter than most people I end up meeting." He turned to the shelves and found something that caught his attention.

"Allow me to return the favor," he said, and reached up to pluck a small tradeback from the book racks. "I'll give you something to read too then, a book that got me through some tough times as well." May thanked him and took the book from his hand. She skimmed over the title, she had never heard of the book before.

"This is a comic," she said, flipping through the pages of illustrations.

Keean Toby chuckled. "Don't be so quick to judge," he said, bowing his head. "You may find that you might like it."

She smirked and tucked the book under her arm. "Then I'll read it," she promised and they began to walk to the register to pay for their purchases. "As long as you promise to read my book."

"It's a bet, then."

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The dark man exited the shop with the lady, confident that that the paparazzi that plagued her had moved on to other people and other events to cover. She had purchased a pair of sunglasses and a small bandana to hide parts of her face, at his suggestion, so she could travel safely through the crowds, or with a little bit more privacy. The small book he had bought for her was inside her bag, while the book he had received in exchange was tucked under his arm. Both walked through the crowds, aiming for the arena where his battle would take place. They had over an hour so there was no rush. They passed through the crowd's current gentle as if separated from the world that surrounded them.

"Is there anyone you would like to see before we go to my match?" he asked her as he stared resiliently at the ground. "Are there any friends or family with you?"

She nodded. "Actually, I should probably check up on my babysitters." She giggled, but he retained a straight face. "My daughter's here, so I have to keep a couple of people around her to make sure she doesn't get in trouble. She's really feisty." Then, her eyes lit up, and he looked towards her, feeling a small pit inside  
himself grow. "Hey, how'd you like to meet her?"

He stopped thinking for a moment, and accidentally ran into someone in front of him. He apologized, though the ice-cream soaked man didn't seem to appreciate it, and turned back to her, suddenly flustered. "M-meet your daughter?" he asked, trying with every portion of his being to control his emotions.

Even though she found his flustered outburst a little strange, the mother nodded her head. "Her name's Sarah," she explained. "I'm sure she'd like you, Keean Toby. You're a very interesting person."

In this perfect moment, one that the agent had been wishing of for the longest time possible, he felt the communicator in his pants vibrate, signaling that the perfectly-timed Agent 0 wanted something. He faced her, his expression bittersweet, and opened the phone, placing it to his ear. "Keean Toby," he answered with his pseudonym.

"SA 06," muttered the dark voice of 0. "Come to the control center immediately. We have a situation."

"Got it," the rookie agent replied, ending the call. "Something's come up, ma'am. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take a rain check on meeting your daughter." He stuffed the communicator into his pants.

"Oh…" Her face drooped slightly, he could tell she was a little disappointed. "Sure."

He felt a seething rage, not at her, but at the ranger that was waiting for him, for having to leave. "I'll try to be back before my match starts. At the very least, I'll meet up with you all after I beat the tar out of Drew." He bowed his head, and ducked into the crowd, rushing through the small spaces between people towards the elevator.

He found the unused elevator quickly and swiped the entry badge for the Contest through it. The doors opened and he ducked into them before anyone could spot him, and punched the key for the command center. The doors closed and, to his surprise, he began to move downwards instead of upwards. He grumbled, and assumed that 0 had moved camp with the breach in security that the SA had caused by bringing the target.

"0!" he roared, the instant the elevator drew to a grinding halt and released him. The gold ranger was in front of him, standing with his arms folded. The dark man wanted nothing more than to punch the golden visor that hid his superior's face. He settled for grabbing 0 by his shoulders and lifting the Golden Ranger from the ground. "Mind explaining to me why you dragged me away from you, before I rip you apart for it?"

0 wasn't phased. "Release me, SA 06, before I make you regret every threat I have endured from you," he retorted and threw out his arm, striking the rookie straight in the gut. "Do not be deceived by lures, SA 06. That makes it all the more easier for the fisherman to snatch you." He shook his head, and watched as the dark man clutched his stomach. "When will you accept that what you want can never be?"

"Never," the other growled back as he raised his body angrily, bracing his arms into fists. "Stop trying to make me into a copy of you."

0 stood silently, and waited for the young man to regain his military composure. After a few moments, the rookie calmed down, though the fists were still present. "Tell me something then, SA 06, why are you still an agent, if you hate what you are?"

"You know why," he answered cruelly. "You stole my family from me."

0 lifted his head. "Then why, SA 06, do you bother to stay here? Even with your…unique ability…you could have easily sworn secrecy and returned to your family. Why do you stay?"

The dark man fell silent, for the first time, in face of the Ranger. He did not give an answer, and 0 did not press the issue, having made his point quite clearly. "You know that the wheels have already been set in motion. There is nothing either of us can do to change that. Do not fight the chance you have been given to save this world."

The dark man looked down at him. "Every time I've tried to do anything for myself, you've stopped me at every turn. All I ever wanted was to be a Pokemon Master. That was all I ever wanted. To be a Master, and live in peace with my family."

"There is no such feeling as peace," 0 snapped. "There is only the absence of battle. To survive, you must commit yourself to that in this line of work. Now-" 0 turned his back on the agent, and began to lead them to the computer terminals "-we have more important duties to tend to. A report has just been filed, and its urgency cannot be overestimated."

"Have the terrorist organizations found the target?" SA 06 asked, grudgingly returning to the work that 0 had out.

"Correct. Today we received a report from 003 that terrorists have indeed located the target and have the means to destroy both her and this entire facility." He snapped his fingers, and the computers whirled to life. "This enemy is different from most we've encountered, as it is wearing a uniform style similar to the one worn by PKM Rangers."

"Another kind of Ranger?" he asked, squinting through the darkness at the screen. "Can you get a visual on him?"

0 nodded, tapping a part of the screen. Instantly, a dark spot showed up on a map of the Contest Center, along with a red one, presumably the target. The dark one was quickly catching up to the red. "You have the transmitter, correct?"

The dark man raised his right hand, where the watch remained fastened. "Got it," he replied. The watch glowed faintly, almost as brightly as the ring on his chain.

"Good. Keep it with you, and man the communications from here. Should anything happen, you know what to do." 0 paused, making sure the rookie understood. "Correct?"

The rookie nodded. "Only until a replacement can be found," he answered, telling 0 the honest truth. He could not be a ranger, if 0 died. "I cannot take your place."

0 gripped the other man's shoulders, and shook his head. "I wish it were that simple, rookie. I do." He removed his arm, and began to walk into the darkness, vanishing into the swirling void that surrounded them. "Goodbye, SA 06."

The dark man nodded, and said he would wait for 0's return, but knew deep down in his heart that this was to be the last time he would hear the Golden Ranger's voice.

Even if he didn't want to admit that.

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0 was like lightning.

Fluid and unseen, he passed among the crowds with ease. Like a bolt of lightning, he burst through the sea of people, preferring to keep to the tops of the booths when he could. The ebony shadow hurried, certain that it was only a matter of moments before the terrorists struck again. The computer, before he had left, had shown the site of the next explosion, and the target was approaching the vicinity of the blast.

He felt light as a feather as he soared through the rooftops, locating the area through his visor's computer navigation. He was nearing the terrorist's domain, where he knew the battle would take place. He had done his homework and discovered who was behind the attacks. This particular threat was deadly, yes, but not undefeatable. If he could only find the person, who was more of a demolitions expert than physical combatant, it would be a simple matter of disarming and neutralizing the threat. But his mind was on other things, like how the dark ranger the day before had held technology similar to his own. He had sent the specs to be analyzed by PKM, hopefully 003 would have something before a few days.

He felt no regrets at what he was about to do. The scanner built into his suit had shown him exactly what he was dealing with, and what was waiting for the target. He had said his goodbye to SA 06, and he had meant it. The mission was more important than he, something the Golden Ranger had learned long ago.

Did he wish it could be different, that there might be another way? Of course he did. The bomb, after all, would harm innocent civilians if he did not stop it. He, on the other hand, was not innocent. The boy, SA 06, knew that well enough. His life had been a hero's trials, but what right did others have to call him one? Or what right did even he have?

There was much 0 had told no one. He was the strong, silent type, who shouldered their burdens on themselves, rather than irritating others with their problems. He had seen the boy in his uniform, long ago, and knew that only SA 06 could become the Golden Ranger. The boy had gone through struggles and trials, the same kinds 0 himself had fought through. He had sacrificed everything, and had lost everything in return.

In the visor's sensors, he spotted the target, who moved rapidly in the direction of the terrorist. The suit's systems detected the sulfur in the atmosphere and found the bomb. Rapidly, he snapped his fingers and a bright golden light formed in his hand. He shouted and hurled it into the ground. It landed just in front of her, creating an explosion that stopped her. The drive was a very useful system, he thought, as the people began to flee. They would only get in the way. Now that she had stopped, he generated the light a second time, leaping from the vendor shops to the ground, his fist smashing into the floor. The light coursed through the floor, aimed directly at the nozzles on the ceiling.

Water rained down from above, the sprinklers fooled by the energy surge into believing that a fire was taking place. People screamed, raising their hands to shield themselves and their clothes from getting wet. They filed out, eager to escape the area. The intercoms came on, urging people not to panic and that technicians were working on the faulty system. People never believed that, thought the Golden Ranger.

The moment the area was clear, he landed on the ground. 0 sprinted forward, headed directly for the target and her family. To him, nothing else presently matter. The fact that his suit was wet, or the knowledge that he could die, everything was irrelevant to him outside the fact that he needed to protect the target and fulfill the mission.

Then the thing of darkness, which looked so very much like the thing from yesterday, but at the same time was incredibly different, emerged from the chaos, water trickling down its sleeves. There was a white boulder in the center of its chest, and the thin visor it wore was ivory. 0 looked down to its side, where it was carrying a missile launcher, a simply giant one that resembled a bazooka.

"I am here to kill you," it hissed. 0 walked in between the family and the dark ranger, his head bent, and his arms braced in a defensive stance.

"No. No you will not," the Golden Ranger replied, scanning the potential power of the weapon it wielded. "May Birch, get away from here now. When it is done with me, it will come after you again. Go!" Behind him, he heard the scampering of feet, and knew she had obeyed him.

The ebony monster was not impressed. "Fine," it spat, holding up the launcher, "I'll kill the most powerful Ranger in the PKM, then I'll go after her!" It held up the launcher, pointing it at the Golden Ranger's chest. "You're nothing, Agent 0 of the PKM, compared to us!"

0 vanished into thin air. The dark ranger spun round, but couldn't find him. The Golden Ranger appeared moments later, directly in front of his foe. The ebony ranger could practically see the smile beneath the visor as he struck out with a roundhouse kick. It ducked, barely, and rebounded with a swing with the launcher. Again 0 vanished, too fast for the eye to see, and smashed it in the back, sending it to its feet. "Really?" he asked, folding his arms. "It seems the opposite would be true, dark ranger. Now, who are you working for?"

The dark ranger was furious, clearly it had been expecting a simple match against the Golden Ranger. It was too confident. But it was also deadly. With a savage roar, it turned, aiming the barrel of the bazooka at the fleeing target. "Time to die!" it cackled savagely.

0 bowed his head sadly, even as the dark ranger prepared to attack. "We could really use someone with your talents in the PKM," he murmured, and ran forward.

"Too bad you guys don't have a 'Blow Crap Up' division," it retorted, as it squeezed the trigger. "And, as of right now, you have failed to protect your target!"

The missile burst out in a fiery explosion, roaring. The sound echoed through the center. "One of us," 0 murmured, though none could hear him, "is worth a million of you. In the PKM, we are never alone."

He vanished, blurring to superhuman speeds. The next instant, he was right in front of the missile. He jumped up, soaring for an instant in the air, before he landed directly on the projectile. The missile didn't even stop, its ballistic force was too great to be halted by the momentum of someone landing on it. The Golden Ranger bent his knees and changed the trajectory of the bomb.

It was difficult. 0 barely had the ability to move it. He grabbed onto the neck of the missile for added strength and piloted it upwards. He could not simply smash it into the ceiling, that would be dangerous. So he did the only thing he could think of.

He started to turn the weapon again, this time so he was flying upside down. He kicked at the missile with his boots and it turned towards its owner before rocketing forward. Underneath his visor, the Golden Ranger must have been grinning, even in the face of his imminent fate. The dark ranger seemed to be in a state of panic, as it attempted to run away, to try and dodge the missile it had just fired.

"Care for a taste of your own medicine?" 0 roared over the missile.

A communication entered his visor, and SA 06's voice began to shout at him. There was some kind of warning, a demand, but the Golden Ranger ignored the subordinate agent. _This is the only way for me_. Ahead of him, he noticed the dark monster ducking and it ran as far away from the impact area 0 was aiming for.

The bomb struck the ground, creating an explosion that rocked through the center. 0 stretched out his arms as he was blown away. It happened in an instant. 0 was at peace, and felt nothing as he died. The Golden Ranger simply disappeared amidst the flames and explosions. The suit shredded, destroyed by the burst that not even its powers could protect against, and the Spirit that dwelled within it died with its Ranger. The morpher vanished moments before the rest of him did, and the person known as 0 was lost.

And yet, the final thoughts of the Golden Ranger were not of his fate. The recordings showed that his last words were for someone else. Someone close to him. Someone he had known for so long, but was still a stranger to.

_ Good fortune…_ The last word, like the Golden Ranger, was forever lost.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

The dark man roared in anger, smashing into the computer screen with his fist. This wasn't happening, it couldn't be possible. But he couldn't deny that last image on the screen, which had showed the Golden Ranger's final moments. The center was destroyed, with a massive crater in the middle. He cursed his own foolishness at having destroyed the computer, which could have shown if there was a life signal, but there was probably none.

0 was gone.

He raised his hands to his face, shouting in frustration. His wrist, which held the special watch, glowed with golden light and he cursed violently as slight lightning stripes began to appear along its surface. The morpher was being transferred to him, proof that 0 was gone. When a Ranger died, their morpher was forfeited to another agent, passed onto the one who held the medium. And this time that person was him.

And it was done. The morpher was attached to him, the last remnant of 0's will. The trainer had always cursed the Ranger, at how 0 would never force him to do it. And yet here he was again. It wasn't fair, but then again life never was. He would have to do this again and he would feel the pain anew, the pain of his loss and the pain of his sacrifices.

He had the choice. Always, always he had the choice. The first choice, which had brought him into the PKM's fold, and had made him an agent. The second choice, which he had embraced to protect her. And this, the third choice, to leave behind any chance to reclaim his past and to accept his destiny forever. He glanced down at his right hand, where the morpher glowed in the dim light. 0 had been a soldier to the end. The ranger had sacrificed himself, just as the agent had. 0 had bought time for her with what little he had to pay with.

He took a step forward, and noticed a hole in the third floor that led down into the world below. "Pikachu," he said, raising his golden morpher to his lips. "To me!" He heard a scampering behind him as the mouse leapt up to join its trainer, perched directly on his shoulder. He looked to it, his heart racing. "Pi…" His throat was dry, so he took a deep breath. "We've got to do it again, Pi. We have to save them." It nodded and leapt down to face him. "Pi, this time there won't be any going back. You'll be…" He lowered his head, looking straight at the mouse. "Will you become my Morphing Spirit again? Will you fuse with me once more?"

Pikachu knew that its trainer, if he had a choice, would never allow it to do this. But it also knew that he didn't and that there wasn't really a question in his mind that it wouldn't do it. It looked around, saying a silent goodbye to the life that it would leave behind forever, before grinning. It thumped its chest and nodded, lightning crackling from its tail one last time. "_Pi_!" it shouted, staring at its trainer with its resolve. "_Pikachu_!"

He nodded, and pulled out the silver communicator and the SA Cart. He dropped them to the ground and smashed them into dust. He took his new morpher and pointed it at his Pokemon. It whirled to life as it detected the Pokemon in front of it. "_…Pokemon detected…_" it murmured. "…_Please press the red button for capture…_"

He glanced down at his Pokemon, his Pikachu, who nodded and bowed its head, waiting for the beam. To save their friends, the way they used to in the happier days. "Ready, Pikachu?" he asked, preparing the scanner the second time. This time it would be permanent, and his Pokemon would never escape from it. Vaguely, he remembered how they had first met, when Pikachu had hated containment of any kind. It wouldn't even go into its Pokeball. Now both of them would be trapped. Neither he nor his Pokemon would ever escape.

"Pokemon Analyzer," he said clearly, pressing the red button on his watch. "Capture Pokemon Spirit!"

Pikachu stood tall even as the red light struck its body. It grunted and watched its body slowly vanished, contained by the morpher. The dark man tried to look away, but found that he could not as his first and most powerful Pokemon, his only friend, the one who had stuck by him all these years in the PKM, vanished in front of him, its eyes glimmering in determination as it disappeared into the morpher to leave behind the world it had roamed forever. The morpher went to work at once, creating a uniform for him to use in battle.

"..._Confirm Agent for PKM Ranger Mode…_" the morpher commanded. "_…Please state your Rank and Number…_"

After this, there would be no going back. He knew why it needed his number and rank: to lock the system to his voice so that no one else would ever be able to use the morpher again until he died. That was how the Golden Ranger's morpher worked, and it did so because 0 himself had designed it that way.

"Agent Rank- SA 06."

This was he needed to do. To save them, he needed power. To gain power, he needed to sacrifice everything to protect those who could not protect themselves. That was what being a ranger was all about, and he knew that. Serving in PKM meant to protect Pokemon and Mankind, regardless of the cost one paid to do so.

"Number- Agent 1067."

There was no going back. The morpher whirled again, locking the number, rank, and voice into its memory, resetting its systems for combat. "_Agent…accepted…_" it replied dully.

The morpher transformed, its surface shining a sleek gold in replacement of the black. The bolts of lightning that carved over its surface turned dark, clashing against the pure gold color upon his wrist. The preparations were complete for his accession. 0's plan had been fulfilled.

He heard the screams downstairs and took a step forward, standing in front of the hole. "I have no name," he recited, modifying the words that 0 used to often say. "I am 0, also known as the Golden Ranger."

He lifted his morpher to his face, bringing up his other hand so that his finger just grazed the red button. "This will be my curse and destiny." He pressed the button, using words that he somehow knew as the vocal command to transform. "_Golden Spirit_!" he roared, pressing down on the switch. "_Pokemon Power_!"

A bright flash of gold enveloped him and he transformed.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

May screamed for help, tucking Sarah under her arms as she ran. The masked assassin, almost like the one from the day before, yet different, was still coming. It was jet-black, with a white oval in the center of its chest and a white square visor. The people of the center surged like a sea, all of them panicked and searching for the exit. Some were trampled, while others were neglected. In the giant crater, shattered limbs of the injured lay, groaning in agony.

"Help!"

It would be there soon, she was certain of it. It didn't matter how fast she ran, or how far she got, it would get her. That was how it always was. Even though it held no weapon anymore, it was still dangerous. It was taking out everyone who dared stand against it with simple, quick blows to the neck and send them falling to the ground, where they laid still and unmoving. "0!" May screamed, her voice rang out as a final resort. Seconds later, it was upon her, as it had spotted her through its visor in the crowd. Sarah was crying, shrieking in fright, but the mother kept moving.

To stop meant death. Whoever it was that kept pursing her, they were going to kill her if they caught her. Behind her, someone smashed into her back, tripping her. She turned as she fell, trying to shield her child from harm. Her back collided with the floor and she cried out in pain. Sarah's tiny arms gripped her in fear and May opened her eyes to see the dark ranger. In its white visor, she could see her reflected face in its horrified glory.

"May Birch," the cold voice whispered as it pulled back its arm. "I am here to kill you. You and that brat you hold."

The center seemed empty, devoid of anything remotely human. Only the four remained: Brock, May, Sarah, and Max. Both men were afraid, they felt it in their bones, but not once did they show it. They stood proud. Max stood in front of his sister and Brock stood by his side.

"This is as far as you go," Max ordered, taking a small red and white ball from his belt. "No one, whoever they are or how late they are for Halloween, messes with my big sister without going through me!"

Brock cracked his knuckles, bringing out a Pokeball of his own. "We'll show you the door," he murmured, clicking the tiny ball's switch, causing it to grow.

Whatever was underneath the ebon mask started cackling at the threat. "That seems all right," it hissed, chuckling merrily. It didn't give them time to unleash their Pokemon and rushed forward with both hands raised. It slapped away the silly little balls and, with a quick thrust of its arm, smashed against Brock's chest, dropping him like a fly. Brock's eyes widened in surprise, before he gasped, the air fleeing from his lungs, and fell soundlessly to the ground.

Max stared in shock as his mentor dropped, then the dark thing turned towards him, kicking Brock's body in the chest for good measure. Max stuck the ball back to his belt, and put up his dukes. The monster attacked, though Max fought back, punching it in the helmet. Crippling pain overwhelmed his arm, as the visor he had hit didn't break. It rammed its fist into his stomach moments later, sending the young man flying back. His head hit the floor and a pool of blood began to trickle down his face. May tried not to look as tears crept into her eyes. Though he was gone, she cried out for the Golden Ranger to rescue her.

"Help me!" she screamed, putting herself in between the dark thing and her daughter. Sarah cried out in terror, her eyes mad with fear. "Someone, please save us!"

The monster giggled. "No one is coming," it whispered, turning towards her. It stalked her like an animal, circling round her in a predator's stance. Its fingers extended into claws, eager to tear into her flesh. "No one can save you."

"Save me," May breathed as it pounced, its hands leading the charge in fists.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Golden light struck the center and blinded everyone inside. The ebony monster screeched in pain, though it did not recoil its fist. It did not, however, connect with the lady. It smashed into something else, something that glowed with a bright flash of light. A moment passed, and the light faded away. It took several seconds for everyone to adjust to the dimmed light, but when they did they saw that the black ranger wasn't moving, caught by the grip of a second warrior. Shielding her daughter, the lady opened her eyes carefully and gasped in shock.

It was the Golden Ranger.

The visor revealed nothing, but the growl that echoed from his voice certainly did. "Did you miss me?" he asked. The other, startled by the reemergence of the ranger, stuttered some vague threat at him, but 0 didn't give it the second chance to attack. Concentrating his power, 0 delivered a kick that sent the ebony demon flying and it slammed against the nearby wall of the center, creating a crack that traveled up the ceiling. It screamed in agony but 0 knew it was not done. The scanner built into his visor told him that much, showing the heightening heart rate of his foe. The Golden Ranger ignored his opponent and turned towards the lady and her daughter, extending an arm. "Are you alright?" His body still glowed with an otherworldly light; he knew that she couldn't quite see him, but she still grasped his hand, and rose to her feet, careful to support Sarah.

"0?" she asked, wondering how that was possible. She had just seen him die, blown into pieces in the explosion. "Is it…really you, 0?" Suddenly, she felt her face grow rather hot, and realized that she was blushing. He glanced down at her, the visor scanning for any damage she might have taken. Turning his focus to the daughter, he nodded.

"I am 0," he answered, his voice synthesized into the former ranger's thanks to the technology that supported the uniform. The voice match within the suit performed the function automatically, so that every time he spoke it was the former Golden Ranger's voice. It assisted in casting the illusion that a PKM Ranger could never be destroyed. "I am here to save you."

The light softly died down around him and she breathed in surprise as she received her first true glimpse at the Golden Ranger's real form.

His chest was golden, shining brightly in the light the center gave off from above. There was gold on his gauntlets as well, which stretched to the middle of his forearms and the covered the backs of his hands. His boots were golden too, going up to his knees. The visor on the center of his helmet was the same, fashioned into an upside-down triangle that covered the majority of the helmet's front.

Everything else was a wreath of black, from the armored leggings he wore to the gloves on his hands and the protection under his gauntlets and up to his shoulders. His helmet was a crown of darkness, save for the visor, and completely masked his true identity. The ranger's body rippled with muscle, proof of the hardened years of training that had built up to this moment. The lady's eyes then trailed to the symbol on the direct center of his chest.

It was black, a mouse-shaped image embedded on his chest, stretching from the black-and-gold belt to the tops of his pectorals. A triangular face stretched upwards, branching eventually into two long ears, before coming down once more to complete the picture, two red cheeks as crimson as blood on either side of the face. It was a Pikachu, the spirit of the ranger.

0 had been reborn.

And he was ready for combat.

He turned from her as the costumed assassin appeared again. "Nice of you to come back," he said, bracing himself into an attack stance. Neither 0 nor the thing expressed nothing from their face, but cracks of electricity burst from the Golden Ranger's uniform issued a nonverbal threat. "I will not allow you to harm the innocent."

The murderer laughed. "I kill who I am told to, PKM Ranger," it replied dully, as it materialized a sword from nowhere. It extended an arm, and a short katana emerged, its surface etched in black color, out of a strange light that it generated from its fingertips. "You hold no power over me and my decisions, so save your sentimental speech for someone who cares to listen."

The Golden Ranger glanced at the sword and clenched his hands. "As you wish," he answered, and jerked his head back to the woman. "Get yourself and your daughter, and everyone else, out of here. I will handle this." He needed her out of the way so that he wouldn't have to worry about her while he fought.

To her credit, she was far braver than he would have expected and nodded. "Come on, baby," she said, turning to Sarah. The little girl was still staring at the Golden Ranger, afraid, but she allowed herself to be picked up by her mother. Max and Brock both got up, despite the crippling pain, and the four bolted from the scene. 0 faced the dark ranger alone, waiting for it to make its next move.

"Now," 0 muttered, cracking his knuckles, "where were we?" The scanner inside his visor operated on overdrive, scanning the sword in the other's hand. The ranger uniform that he wore, while state of the art, would not protect him from the blade's sharp edge. I need a plan, he thought, crouching in preparation for his opponent's rush.

In the visor's screen, a small icon appeared in the shape of a dark mouse. "Welcome 0," a voice said into the com link. A voice that was high and squeaky, just like a certain mouse that the ranger knew. "I am your Pokemon spirit. I am here to assist you."

"Is that you, Pi?" 0 asked incredulously, scarcely able to believe it.

"Correct, 0," Pikachu replied, its voice barely containing its excitement. "It seems that the suit you are presently in was created by my bond with you. Because of this, I have the ability to directly communicate with you, my voice translated into your human language for easier use. This should be enjoyable, don't you agree?"

"I'm just glad to hear your voice again," he replied, chuckling. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all, considering his best friend was still with him. In spirit, anyway. "Now, how's about we figure out how to deal with the guy with the sword? Got any ideas?"

"Affirmative." A screen appeared in the left corner of the visor, which seemed to indicate some sort of program. "Activating Ranger weapons."

"What is that?"

"A new type of combat strategy. A melee or firearm weapon can be directly downloaded from a ranger's morpher for easier usage," Pikachu replied, showing a small weapon icon. "A weapon's strength is directly proportionate to a Ranger's bond with their spirit. The stronger the bond, the stronger the weapon." It paused, as it would take 0 a little bit of time to sink in the information. "This is a new standard, which was not perfected last time."

"Got it," the ranger replied. "Activate the melee weapon." The mouse Pokemon confirmed the order and a bright light formed into his left palm. A weapon hilt began to take shape, coal black and at least a foot long. He wrapped his fingers along the handle, and watched as a lightning bolt shape began to emerge, as the handle finished formed, but the rest jutted to the side rapidly, growing into a monstrous curved blade which resembled a fang, but the design, especially in how the back edge was connected to the right side of the hilt, made it look more like part of a curved lightning bolt. The sharp edge of the giant blade was pitch-black, but the remainder was pure gold.

The dark ranger looked towards the massive, easily six foot long, blade with a wavering that showed in its battle stance. "Are you sure you can even lift that sword?" it mocked, noticing how 0 had yet to lift the blade's tip from the ground. It swung its own, compact sword above its head.

Underneath the visor, the Golden Ranger grinned. "Sure I can," he answered, lifting the massive weapon like a twig. His bond with his Pokemon must have been strong, he thought, running his eyes over the giant blade. "And I'd be willing to bet money that any chance you had of taking me on and winning just shot down the tubes." He slung the sword over his shoulders, deciding that he probably couldn't run the way he was holding it. The dark ranger rushed forward, and the Golden Ranger charged.

0 slashed with the massive sword, forcing the dark ranger to leap above him. The sword swung in a giant arc and the Golden Ranger continued it into a circle, just barely missing the black thing as it came down behind him. The tiny katana attacked, and 0 lifted his sword like a shield, easily blocking the blow and delivered a sweep kick to the sword hilt, sending the katana flying behind the dark thing. He reared back his left fist and smashed into the dark ranger's visor. The thing stood still for a moment, before it flung back skidding across the floor.

It stood up, though it was clearly scared, shivering. "W-what are you?" it asked. Its voice radiated fear from his last attack. 0, under his mask, smiled broadly.

He thought about what it had asked, unsure of how he would answer it. He was a mixture of things, most of which he was not proud of. A liar, a savior, a warrior, and now a ranger. He lifted his sword, tilting its edge to the side. "I am a protector," he decided, before he started to rush forward, "of the people I love."

The sword came down and the Golden Ranger heard the shriek of pain as it slashed through the body of his foe, splitting it in two. He felt as its body crumbled into dust beneath his feet, melting into a fine dark powder.

He had won.


	5. Morph 5

**Morph Five: The Ranger in White **

0 stood atop a nearby rooftop and watched through his visor the scene below. Rescue vehicles had been moving in and out of the area on a constant basis, most particularly the fire engines, which needed to be replaced every few hours. The fires were still burning out of the giant crater that made up the Center's ceiling, licking at the concrete surfaces. The Golden Ranger knew from the transmissions that his helmet was picking up that there were no fatalities, but quite a few people had sustained severe injuries. PKM had not called in reinforcements for him, which suggested that they were not pursuing the matter any further. This time, they would not be able to cover up the story, it was already being exposed by the media. PKM was a secret agency, but only in operations, not public knowledge. Most of the regions knew about the rangers that PKM implemented in their missions, but the governments of the various regions that employed the agency required it to be kept as best a secret as possible what all it did.

"Guess that won't be happening this time," 0 muttered to himself, having kept the silence for long enough. So far he hadn't been spotted by anyone in the streets or on any of the television stations, they were far too busy with the matter of containing the fire in the Center before it spread to other buildings. This story couldn't just be hushed up. "I'm going to have to explain the circumstances to HQ…great. I hate talking to those windbags."

In his hand sat a small device that he had managed to get out of the Center before the media captured his image. It looked like a single black stone carried on a chain. It was worrying for two reasons: one, it was likely the transformation device the other ranger had used; and two, it meant that someone, somewhere, had the ability to produce rangers of their own, something that was incredibly dangerous. He had had Pikachu analyze some of the basic components of the stone and found that it did not operate on any known power system. It was alien to anything 0 had ever seen.

"Agent 0." The Golden Ranger looked up and noticed the icon in his visor displayed Pi's face.

"Yes, Pi?" he asked.

"There is a communication coming directly from PKM. I am patching it through to you."

"Okay." One of the more interesting abilities of the suit was the media ability that it had. It could allow him to speak to anyone with a phone or a means of contact, surf the local news channels for anything of interest, and best of all let him scan for anything he needed in the direct vicinity. The communication link started and he said, "This is Agent 0," into the communicator. "What is it?"

"1076," came an annoyed voice. It was 003 again. "What are you doing in that suit? Where is the real Golden Ranger?"

0 shifted uncomfortably. That was strange, normally PKM were always on top of things, information-wise. "The former Agent 0 was KIA, and the situation required a Ranger. I assumed the mantle in his place." He took a deep breath. "I am the Golden Ranger now," he muttered harshly.

003 scribbled something down, probably notes for later use, before he returned to speak to him. "Your ranger status will be determined later," he ordered. "For now, PKM has decided that you will return to headquarters for evaluation. The Contest has been called off due to the terrorist attacks and our services have been withdrawn from Saffron. Have you anything else?"

"Yes." 0 lifted the strange morpher towards his visor. "I confiscated some sort of morpher from the terrorist that attacked. I'll be bringing it in for you to take a look at."

"Very good. You will be given your next assignment at HQ after debriefing."

"Roger." 0 lowered his arm. "I'll be back in three days, give or take on the wind."

"You have one, 1076." The line went dead, so 0 secured the stone into a special compartment in his belt.

"Idiots," 0 grumbled, and looked at his morpher again. The golden-black surface reflected back at him. "Only for a few days, Pi, I promise," he muttered and hoped he could back up that claim. "Well, we have one day to get there, and it takes twenty hours to fly. What do you recommend?"

"Well, I believe we should probably practice using the Golden Ranger powers," it replied, its voice strangely mechanical. "After all, this time you won simply out of blind luck. Next time, we might have a real problem on our hands if they send people that can match us."

"Hey, Pi?"

"Yes, 0?"

"How's about we tone down the robot talk?" 0 asked. "Is that really how you speak?"

0 could almost hear the relief in his partner's voice as it returned to normal. "Oh, thank you 0," it answered with a sigh. "I wasn't sure exactly what I was supposed to do, so I guess I wanted to play the part of a real spirit." It laughed and the ranger chuckled.

"Don't ever talk like that again, got it?" 0 replied. "I might have to sound like a machine every now and then but there is no way I'm letting you do it too. Trust me, in a little while we'll be free of this ranger system and you'll be able to run around out here."

"Thank you, 0."

"Don't mention it, buddy," 0 said, before swerving his head away from the wreckage. "Come on, let's get out of here. Before we leave, we'll do a sweep of the target and make sure she's alright, then we'll head out and check up on the two knuckleheads that thought it would be funny to pick a fight with the bogey yesterday."

"Sounds like a plan," Pikachu confirmed. It was enjoying the new voice that it had, which was a sort of mechanical mesh of its original one. The suit that it had created, along with the watch, allowed an even better method of communication between trainer and Pokemon. "The fastest way to the target is…" A screen emerged on the visor, a nicely shrunken map of the city. Two dots, one for the hotel and another for the hospital, emerged, with a small spot of yellow to show their current location "…right here." An arrow began to trace its way to the hotel from the yellow dot.

0 looked at himself. "I'm going to take off the uniform now," he said, pressing down the button on his morpher. "Power down!" Golden light flashed and surrounded him in an almost ethereal glow as the suit began to transform into civilian clothing. The golden chest plate became the dark yellow shirt the dark man wore; the leggings became black pants and the shoulders and arms became a leather jacket and fingerless gloves. The whole process took a grand total of ten seconds. The light died and Agent 1076 stood alone on the rooftop, his mesh of black hair hiding his face, all save for the grim look fixed onto his lips. "Let's get rolling." His combat boots clunked against cement and the ring on his chain jingled in the dark night's light breeze.

He took out an earpiece and linked it to his morpher. "It'd look weird if I kept talking into a watch," he explained to Pikachu, who agreed. His Pokemon's voice in his ears, the Golden Ranger set off in a brisk jog, heading for the fire escape of the building he was on. Underneath his feet, the streets were alive with activity, but he paid them no heed, even as he exited the building and began making his way east. All the while, in the blaze of artificial light, he could think of nothing but the promise she had made to him, to finally meet her daughter.

He hoped she was alright.

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May Birch shivered and drew baby Sarah close to her. The day had been far too tiring for both of them, and they were scared. It wasn't often that someone tried to kill them; in fact, neither of them had ever been through anything like it. The dark ranger still haunted their minds with its weapons and its cruel cackle. May drew the blanket tightly against her daughter, seeing a flash of the white visor the thing had for a face leering at her through the darkness, followed by the hiss that it had for a voice.

0 had saved them, that brought her courage. Somehow he had risen from the dead once to save their lives twice that day. The first time, deflecting the missile and the second, in combat. She sighed, burying her face into Sarah's hair. The Golden Ranger amazed her. May, deciding that it would be a good idea, decided to talk to Sarah, for the little girl hadn't spoken since the police had left them alone in their room.

"Are you alright, baby?" she whispered to her child, hugging her tightly. "Did the bad man hurt you?"

The little girl shook her head and looked up to her mother. "Momma, was that man in black a bad guy?" she asked, shivering. Sarah tucked herself into her mother's warmth, snuggling her. "Was the man in gold a good guy?"

May nodded her head. "The man in gold was a ranger, Sarah," she replied, and brushed the hair out of her daughter's face. "They do amazing things for people like you and me. They protect us from the bad guys, like the man in black. The bad man tried to hurt us, but the Golden Ranger beat him up. He defended us."

"Then why did the man who looked like a ranger try to hurt Momma?" her daughter asked, her bright eyes fearful. "I don't want Momma to go to the hospital with Uncle Max and Uncle Brock."

May held her child close. "I'm not going anywhere, baby," she reassured Sarah and patted her head. Sarah yawned and May chuckled. "Why don't you try to get some sleep, baby? Today was tough, and it's past your bedtime."

Sarah nodded. "Okay, Momma," she answered. May picked up the little girl, and set her down into the bed. Sarah was a quick sleeper and instantly curled up into a small ball, tucking her thumb into her mouth. Within minutes, May could hear the faint breath of sleep from her daughter and wished that she could sleep as easily as her daughter did.

May almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a knock on the door. "Hey, it's me," a voice whispered between pants. It took a moment for May to realize that it was Keean Toby and that he was probably panting from the effort of running from wherever he had come from. She stood up, still clutching the blanket close to her body, for she wasn't really wearing much underneath it save her pajamas. She crept up to the door, her brown hair trailing across her face as she unlocked the door to let him inside.

Keean Toby burst into the room, his entire face disorganized, as though he had somehow meshed his hair into something. His mouth was open, drawing deep gulps of air into his lungs. He coughed, tasting what seemed to be his blood in his mouth, and leaned against the door. "I…came as soon…as I heard…" he rasped in short breaths. "Are you…all right?"

For the first time, May reached out, and wrapped her arms around him. She buried her face in his broad chest and a tear slipped from her eye. "Yes… We're both fine. We got out…just in time."

Keean Toby seemed taken aback, for his heart began to beat at a much faster fluctuation. Awkwardly, he reciprocated the action and enfolded her into his clumsy embrace. "I'm glad for that," he answered, his voice shaky. "I was very worried when I saw the news. Are you sure you're both alright?"

"We're fine, Mr. Toby." She felt warm and safe with him. His giant frame seemed to protect her from the darkness of the room. "We're fine." She, without even knowing she was doing it, snuggled into his body, pressing herself against him and pressing him against the door, and noticed that she was dressed rather immodestly, and that Keean Toby was blushing. She pulled away, at least so that she was no longer pressed against him and looked up at him with a smile. "Did you do that thing you said you needed to do?"

He nodded. "I did." His voice conveyed to her that he really didn't want to talk about whatever it was he did. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be there. You were in trouble, and I could have helped out."

"There was nothing you could have done," she answered. "The Golden Ranger saved us though, one of those guys from PKM."

"Oh…yeah," he replied. "I remembered hearing something like that on the news."

"Thank you though, for wanting to be there," she murmured.

Keean Toby chuckled lightly. "I feel sort of pathetic right now," he told her, a sense of relief flooding his veins. "It sucks when you aren't the guy that saves the day, you know?" He scratched his head. "I have no idea what I'm saying. Sorry for the blabbering."

"It's okay," she whispered. Keean Toby looked down at her, then turned his head to see Sarah sleeping peacefully in the bed.

"Is…that your daughter?" he asked softly. May glanced down briefly and noticed that his palms were sweating.

"Yes," May explained, nodding her head. "She's baby Sarah."

Keean Toby nodded very slowly. "Sarah," he repeated. "She's very beautiful." He glanced at her and grinned. "Just like her mother."

May smiled. "Yeah. She'll be a real looker in a few years."

"I suppose so," he answered. Keean Toby smiled, something that genuinely took May by surprise. It was only a facial expression, but to May it seemed so much more. The gentle curve of his mouth brought a soothing peace with it, one whose origin could not be found. "Too bad I can't meet her, but at least she's safe. I won't trouble her by waking her up." He looked up and from the window he could still see the wreckage of the center. "Is the Contest being cancelled?"

May nodded. "The Center was destroyed, and I don't think they plan on relocating it so quickly. For now, it's been called off."

"Any idea of what you'll do now?"

"Well…" May sat down in a chair. "I was planning on taking a small break from the limelight. So I'll be heading back to Petalburg, take some R&R with Sarah, that kind of stuff. My brother is the Gym Leader, so I'd be more than welcome back home." She watched as Keean Toby followed her example, seating himself in a chair opposite her and placing his feet on the coffee table in front of them.

"Petalburg," he repeated in monotone and she nodded. "I have a friend there." He grinned, and looked up. "Maybe if I'm in the area, I'll look you up. For now, it's probably best I make arrangements to return home to continue my training." His smile faded and his mask was reset. Keean Toby was a stranger again. "But I promise that I'll come back soon, okay? For now, just look after your kid, got it?"

"I know," she replied, resting her head in her hands. "I just feel really tired right now. Like the whole of me has been utterly spent."

Keean Toby smirked. "You've never been in a death match before," he joked. "Orre trainers are a lot tougher than others." She chuckled and he decided that was a good sign. "I'd better get going," he muttered, rising from the chair. Briskly, he headed for the door, but stopped when he felt her take hold of his hand.

May tightened her grip on his fingers. "When will I see you again?"

He turned back to her and she saw a pained expression pierce through the mask he wore. "Sometime soon," he answered. He squeezed her fingers suddenly and released her, ducking out through the door. He was out and gone before May could even blink. The woman pressed herself against the door, almost against her own will. There was a dull throb in her chest, one that she could not remember from where, but only that it gave her a chilling sense of déjà vu.

She was alone again, all save for baby Sarah, snuggled up in her bed. In a time when she most needed others, she stood alone. Just like before, when she had stood without him for the first time. Keean Toby had reawakened something she had not felt for so very long.

Sighing, May Birch wondered for the millionth time where her dark warrior was.

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"Agent 0 arriving."

The voice that chimed above 0's head was definitely annoying, with a dull mechanical tone that left the ranger wondering why PKM never bothered to get equipment that wasn't made before he had been born. The doors that led into PKM opened up and 0 stepped forward into the secret HQ of PKM. Steam, for some reason, followed him out of the elevator, and he coughed.

"Baby!" blared a voice to the far left, the exact moment that he chose to set his feet down onto the narrow metal corridor. 0 felt someone grab him roughly and shove him violently against the floor. He groaned, which didn't make things any easier, because whoever attacked him took the noise as encouragement, and proceeded to shift him onto his back and straddle him. 0 grabbed his molester by the long strands of white hair and groaned again in annoyance.

Through his hair, he noticed that Agent 3 of the PKM was the one currently entwined around his waist with her white hair strewn around his body. "Get off me," he muttered, trying to pry her off. He failed, forgetting that her lithe frame concealed the surprising strength the woman had. "Please get off me. You know exactly how I feel about you tackling me…"

"And you know how I loooove tackling you, big boy," Serena Brine, replied sweetly, grinning at him devilishly with her emerald eyes. "I mean… You know I don't know my own strength." She grabbed his wrist and pinned it to the ground to check out the new morpher he wore. She chuckled like a maniac, and positioned her face only a few inches away from his. "Or should that be sir? Guess you couldn't keep away from the wonderful feel of spandex after all."

"It's a temp thing," he answered and finally managed to push her off. "I want to be demoted as quickly as possible back to my old grade." He stood up, irritated. Serena knew exactly how to grind his gears. "I'm not a ranger. You and 0 are."

Serena also knew how to milk a show. "Pwease…Baby? Pweese be a ranger for little Serena?"

0 stood up and shook his head. "Not going to happen, 3. Now, where am I getting debriefed, so I can get it over with and return to the field?" He never liked spending much time at HQ. Serena stood up with him and he noticed vaguely how much he towered over her. Then again, he reminded himself, she was barely breaking five feet as it was. Without the heels. "Go away."

She was too beautiful for an Agent, the small voice in his head that retained the maturity of a teenager noted. She had the body of a model, even though she was short, with long, flowing silver hair and bright emerald eyes. A lithe body as well, hidden by the ranger uniform she wore: the black jacket, pants, and white shirt with a 3 engraved on the side of her jacket. The little voice also noticed her prominent cleavage, which jutted out of a low-cut shirt.

"I know you want this, big boy…" she giggled and laughed at his straight face. "And I don't just mean my body." She smacked his chest. "Get off your high horse and take that promotion you found your way into." Then, without warning, she grabbed his arm, and began to steer him straight through HQ, without waiting for a response from him. 0 tried to jerk away, but strength hid itself well inside his companion's well-toned body.

0 groaned. Out of all the people who worked at PKM, out of everyone in Orre, out of everyone in the world in general, why did she always have to pick him? And, since she was a ranger, he had always had to go along with her orders, considering he had only been a grunt agent, despite the fact that they had started at the same time at PKM. His brain briefly reminded him of every single thing she had done in the name of what she called 'training', from bumping into him with her chest to surprising him in the shower of his own room.

"3, I can find my own way around here," he protested, planting his feet firmly against the ground. "Let go, 3!"

She obeyed and sent him sprawling to the ground, eliciting another groan. Serena always seemed to cause him injuries in some form or shape. "As Agent 1076, temporary Golden Ranger, I order you to calm the hell down, Agent 3." He didn't like pulling rank for her, but it seemed the best way to get her to stop. She did so and allowed him to recompose himself.

"Pulling rank is a fun toy," she whispered, grinning madly. "Come on, it's time for you to see the Council."

"The Council?" he asked. "What for? I thought all I needed was a debriefing and a bunch of forms for a reduction."

"Well, you would, if you weren't a ranger right now, which means you report directly to the Council." 0 followed her begrudgingly, knowing that a meeting with the Council could never be good. "Council wanted me to meet you so that they could summon you for a report on exactly what went down in Saffron."

"Just great," 0 grunted, shoving his hands into his pockets. He was still in plainclothes as he hated wearing the regulation PKM uniform. The rangers, though, wore special uniforms, such as the white in Serena's. 0, if memory served correct, had owned one, though the present Golden Ranger had only seen it once. 1 had had one, as had 2, a while back, before he died. 0 decided it didn't matter a great deal and put the colors of the uniforms out of his head as they neared the Council chambers.

Serena stopped just before the two giant doors that hid the Council chambers. 0 looked up at both, took in their wrought-iron color, and diverted his attention to a small console on the side that Serena was approaching. The Council, ever the old farts, enjoyed security in the most discreet fashion and as such had to have the biggest doors in the place. 0 guessed it was some form of reverse psychology to any enemy. He certainly didn't get the method.

"Now, for a normal agent," Serena explained as she pulled out her morpher, a white version of his own dark morpher, "you just swipe a card when you want access to a place. For rangers, we scan our morphers into databanks which can confirm our DNA and our designation. So you go like this."

She cleared her throat and placed her morpher near the screen. "Agent 3, White Ranger." The screen flashed and somehow read her morpher, displaying a very detailed sketch of the interior networks of the device.

"Ranger locked…" the computer droned. "White Ranger is scheduled for appointment. Please verify guest for admission to Council chambers."

She turned to him and gave a smile. "You're up," she said, moving away from the machine. "Just repeat what I did, but with your data."

"Sounds simply enough." 0 stepped in front of the machine and pulled up the sleeve of his leather jacket, exposing his own dark morpher. He held it in front of the screen just as she had done and did as she did. "Agent 1076, acting Golden Ranger," he recited carefully. "Also currently acting Agent 0."

"Ranger locked…" it repeated and flashed a detailed description of his morpher's blueprints. "Acting Golden Ranger scheduled for debriefing today, with White Ranger as escort."

Immediately, the doors began to creak open, the sound irritating the Golden Ranger's ears. 0 knew the Council's notoriety for intimidation and the ploys it used to weaken other Agents who came before it.

He did not intimidate easily.

"Agent 1076 may enter the Council chambers escorted by Agent 3," the machine droned in monotony. 0 never liked going to see the Council, debriefings were normally handled by the Intelligence division of PKM. Seeing the Council always seemed to remind him of the lectures that his mother used to give him once upon a time ago. The two came to a standstill in the center of the circular room and looked up to the panel of strangely similar looking old men with varying degrees of gray in their hair. The Council sat ten feet above the people they ruled over, possibly to compensate for something, 0 thought snidely. They were trying to frighten him.

He did not frighten easily.

"Agent 1076," stated the foreman of the Council, who normally spoke to 0 whenever he was summoned to the Council. "You have been brought before the Council to be evaluated on the subject of the past Agent 0, also known as the Golden Ranger, and his passing, as well as your coming into possession of the morpher that he was issued. There is also the matter of your new temporary rank of Golden Ranger." 0 noted that, while he spoke, the other old men whispered to themselves, judging him. "Do you understand this?"

The Golden Ranger nodded. "I do."

"Agent 3, Serena Brine, has requested to testify at this hearing on your behalf. We shall begin the hearing now." The man shuffled his papers, as if to get things in order, and coughed, as if to get the dust out of his lungs. "You are presently in possession of the Golden Ranger's morpher. Display it."

0 flashed his right wrist, which displayed the dark morpher clearly to the shrouded men. "The old man gave them to me right before he died, through the transfer medium. I have contained a Pokemon, my Pikachu, as my Ranger Spirit. I was forced to do this under extreme pressure from a terrorist." He lowered his arm and took a deep breath. "There was no other option. The situation called for a Ranger, so I became one to properly complete the mission." He dug into his pockets and retrieved the evidence from the dark thing that had attacked: a sample of the dust and the stone. "I also found these artifacts, which seem to be similar to PKM Ranger technology."

"Agent 1076?" the voice of the foreman asked.

"Yep?"

"Cut the crap right now. The Council knows full well you do not behave like this. It will not buy you brownie points to patronize this Council."

"Okay," 0 replied with a cheerful smile. "I'll cut the crap. I want a reduction back to my old grade, before this mission. I want the morpher off, I want my Pikachu back into real life instead of the virtual hell it's stuck in right now, and I want a beer. I do not want to be a ranger."

"Those requests are null at this point," the foreman answered. "The fact is that you cannot be removed from the morphing technology so simply. These artifacts that you say you obtained will be handled by Agent 3. Upon transfer to your next assignment, you will hand them over to her for analysis." Papers ruffled again. "Now, on to the debriefing. Report, 1076."

0 took a deep breath. "The assignment I requested was to observe the Contest in Saffron City. I do this once a year, because even I have feelings, and I like to watch my ex and my little girl, if only for a few days." He lowered his head and clenched his teeth. "I guess I'm still human and have human attachments."

"Enough sentimental rubbish. Talk."

"I infiltrated the Contest under the alias Keean Toby. During that time, I noticed several enemy agents, possibly from other organizations, that began to attack the Contest. For this reason, the former Agent 0 was dispatched to assist me and I was promoted to the SA class of Agents. During the battle, Agent 0 committed suicide and I assumed the mantle in order to complete the mission. I have reason to believe that someone may be planning against her."

"We have prepared for that eventuality," the foreman said. "Because of the terrorist threat utilizing similar technology to our own, we have decided to use May Birch as bait, as these terrorist rangers seem to be attacking her. To that end, your terms of employment have changed.

"You will retain your position as the Golden Ranger," the foreman decreed. "In addition to this, you are assigned to this case due to your prior knowledge of the target. Your mission will be to obtain additional information on this terrorist organization so that we may properly combat them. You will also protect May Birch." Then the foreman, who had a grand total of ten teeth that 0 could count, smiled boldly. "And Miss Brine will be assisting you."

0 stiffened. "Excuse me?" he asked. "Oh, no no no no no no n-"

"Yes."

0 glanced at Serena, who was beside herself with joy. "If you are successful with your mission," the foreman lured, "you will receive any reward you can think of, including a reduction or promotion in rank. Until the completion of the mission, however, you will retain the rank of Golden Ranger." He glanced at one of the other men, and pointed a finger. "Play the tape transmitted from the former Golden Ranger to the newly appointed Agent 0."

0, realizing that he would have absolutely no say in his situation, resigned himself to the fact that he would be shacked up with Serena for an indefinite amount of time and began to imagine various defenses that he would have to organize around his person. Not to mention camera jamming equipment in the shower. The tape began to play and 0 heard the dead man's laugh fill the chamber.

"You've really messed up now, haven't you boy?" the tape hissed, gloating over him. "I'm glad you finally accepted your responsibilities, it means I can finally have my retirement. Now then, fear not 1076, or should I say 0 now? This state is not permanent. There is a way to reverse the transformation from man to ranger, and it is located in the morpher you wear on your arm. But you won't find it, because you don't want to be a ranger, and you must want to be one to become free of the curse." It cackled. "Live a little, I hear ladies love a man in spandex…"

The tape stopped and 0 growled. "The transmission cuts off here," the foreman said. "Or, rather, the less deranged commentary on the transmission cuts off here. Do you have anything else to say on this matter?"

0 looked up. "I don't think it would matter if I did," he answered.

"You are correct," the old man replied swiftly. "Then this matter is settled. You will retain your rank of Agent 0, Golden Ranger, until such time as your mission with Agent 3 is completed. Congratulations." He shuffled his papers and stood up. The remainder of the Council did the same. "This meeting is adjourned."

0 didn't look at Serena but got the vague impression that she was staring at him. He turned and bolted from the room at a fast pace. The clattering of shoes behind him told the Golden Ranger that she was following him. "Damn that old man," he growled as the doors opened in front of him. "I hope he's burning in hell."

He headed for the one place he could find solitude in the whole of PKM.

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There was always one place that was peaceful for him.

0 stopped just short of his personal room and reached into his pocket to retrieve the card key from his wallet. Serena glanced at it and 0 kept it close, not wanting to let it fall into her hands. He swiped it through the scanner by the side of the door and a small green light flashed above the scanner. The door opened and he stepped inside.

Immediately after entering the small room, 0 punched a small button, sealing the door behind Serena. He lifted his head and stared at the simple accommodations that he now called home. He passed through the metal atrium and the blank walls of his room looked back at him. It was noticeably vacant of any personal items, Serena noted. A desk, a chair, and a bed was all the furniture he had ever bothered to obtain. Underneath the bare bed, which looked more like a cot than anything, was a locker with various clothes. 0 hated all forms of comfort, as he had spent too many years living in the wilderness during his travels. He was more at home on the bare earth than a cozy inn.

Carelessly, he discarded the golden shirt to his bed. Serena licked her lips at the hardened muscles that clad her fellow ranger's body. She also noticed a few bruises that he must have obtained during his last mission. 0 kept his back to her, not wanting to expose his pectorals to the light. "0..." he heard Serena's voice purr to him, which was followed immediately by her arms slinking around his waist. 0 focused his energy on keeping his footing, but Serena once again proved the strange strength of her tiny body and tossed him into the bed, landing on top of him. Somehow, she had turned him in midair, and he cursed under his breath.

Serena increased her grasp on his waist. "My, my, Agent 0. Getting a little frisky, aren't we?" She maintained her grin. "I mean, throwing me on your bed like that… You must really want some White Ranger love…"

0 attempted to remain calm and retain his composure. "You threw me onto the bed," he pointed out, forcibly detaching her hands from his waistline. His head was beginning to hurt, he must have hit it against something when they collided with the bed. She stood up and he remained lying in the bed, a noticeable red tinting his cheeks. "That's called sexual harassment, 3."

She stuck her tongue at her superior. "Wrong. See, that only works if the person above you is sexually harassing you, not the other way around." She chuckled while he just shook his head. "Come on," she urged, producing a small parcel from behind her back, "I have something for you anyway."

"It had better not be handcuffs again." 0 shuddered, remembering the time she had decided to give him an impromptu lesson on the various usages of handcuffs, one that had forced him to tear apart his headboard to release himself. He rubbed the back of his head, where a small bump was forming as a result of his collision with the bed. "If it is, you're out of here for good."

She shook her head, but filed away the idea for future reference. "Even better," she answered. She tossed him the parcel and he noticed that his new number was printed on the side in gold. "Bakaguru recommended I give this to you. He said that it would make your promotion more official."

0 felt the package, it seemed to be light and made of fabric. "Just what is this?" he asked, bouncing it with one hand. "Feels like clothes."

"Correct," Serena answered and settled herself down onto the chair. "Put it on, you'll see for yourself."

0 sighed. "Okay, but this better not be a trick." He stood up and tucked the package under his arm. "Be right back." He walked towards the cramped bathroom to change into the new clothing.

Serena waited until the bathroom door was shut before she stood up. "Now, where's his underwear drawer?" she wondered aloud, just loud enough for him to hear her. She heard something smash off the counter inside the bathroom in response, and her emerald eyes glinted as she giggled. The man had yet to figure out the effect he had on women…

"What is this?" 0 demanded from the bathroom, having opened the package and removed its contents. "3, there is no way I am wearing this stupid thing!"

"Put it on!" the White Ranger instructed. "Don't make me do it for you!" She heard a sigh and then the ruffle of clothes being removed. 0 must have decided his modesty was worth more than his fashion sense, Serena thought, considering the possibility of simply bursting in on him in the middle of changing clothes. She resumed her search for anything she could steal from the new ranger and looked over to the desk for any clues of the whereabouts of his valuables and delicates.

Her eyes trailed over it briefly, before settling down on the small frame that was placed face down on the desk. Serena glanced briefly at the bathroom door, which was firmly locked, and curiosity overwhelmed her. She had never seen a personal item of 0's before. She grabbed the small, wooden frame and checked out the picture on display beneath the glass. It was 0, from a few years ago, but there were others surrounding him.

0 was in the center of a crowd of people. To his immediate right was a tall man with jagged black hair and the grinning eyes of a fox, his arm around 0's shoulders. To his left was a younger man, probably in his late teens, who wore glasses and patted 0's head. There was a woman with the fox-eyed man with bright orange hair with a smile on her face, her azure eyes sparkling. There was a blue haired girl, and an older woman with auburn hair. There was even a tall man in the background with a sketchpad next to an old man with a lab coat. There were many more people, far too many for Serena to look at. She was focused on the fact that 0 happened to be smiling a true, sincere smile, with his arms wrapped against the body of a young woman with bright brown hair and cool blue eyes.

And in the hands of the woman, a small bundle was wrapped, a little head poking through the fabric with dark brown, almost black hair, blinking at the bright light around her. Serena felt a lump in her throat and swallowed it as she stared at the picture.

"Thanks for waiting." Serena jumped up like a child caught peeking at a present by their parent. 0 exited the bathroom dressed in his brand new uniform. He dumped his civilian clothes on the bed, and stared at himself in disbelief. It was a PKM uniform, similar to hers, but designed for the Golden Ranger. The pants were black, as was the jacket that he wore, but the shirt was bright gold. On the back, just like her, there was a number, a golden 0. He looked up, and his mouth hardened as he noticed what she was holding. "3..." he muttered, walking towards her. "Put that down."

For some reason she couldn't, and stood up, pressing the picture against her chest. "No," she retorted stubbornly. She looked at the woman in the picture again. "Is this her? The one who hurt you?" She held it up and pointed to it. "Is she the reason?"

0's face was blank. "That is the woman that I sacrificed for this, 3," he answered, lowering his head. "That is our new target, whom we have been assigned to protect. And that-" His throat felt dry as he looked at the bundle in her arms "-is her daughter, Sarah. And people that I called my friends."

"I know that," Serena snapped at him and tossed the frame back down onto the desk. "So, what's gonna happen, 0? Did you get this assignment on purpose, so that you could get back with her somehow?" 0 didn't answer, but sat down onto his cot. Serena continued. "Well, that isn't going to happen, 0." Her hand clenched into a fist. "You're too important to this agency." _You're too important to me._

He shook his head. "I don't want this like you do, 3. I've said that for as long as I can remember. I'm here because I have nowhere else to go now." He looked up at her. "I don't want to be a Ranger," he said softly, attempting to control himself. "0 took everything from me. My wife, my friends, and my daughter. Everyone I held dear." He stood up from the cot and began to walk towards her. "You know that feeling just as well as I do, 3."

She did, and Serena nodded her head. "I know that I've lost people, 0, because I came here." She grabbed him and shook him, trying to make him understand. "But I haven't given up yet. I stayed here, and I don't regret it." She felt tears in her eyes. "You know who I lost. You know what we went through." She smacked his face, and he let her. "Where's your mark? You carry my scars with you, but where's the one that ties you to that woman!"

Her eyes trailed down his chest, to the golden ring that hung on his chain. "I never take it off," he answered. "That makes it easier to remember exactly why I'm here, and exactly what I lost to protect her." He felt his chest, where the scars of his past were more easily accessible underneath his uniform. "I bear your scars too, 3, only the one I carry for my past weighs more heavily on my heart." He glanced at the morpher on his wrist. "Drop it, because I am not in the mood for any guilt trips today. I've become a Ranger. That doesn't mean I still want any part of this world."

She nodded her head, though she felt a strange disappointment in her heart. He's just a plaything, she reminded herself, and shook it off. "Come on, 0," she said and started for the door, "Council said that I should show you some things for your Golden Ranger equipment."

0 just grumbled. Being a Ranger came with too many changes, though at least he wouldn't have to worry about his wardrobe. For some reason it was already stocked with gold clothing already.

When 0 exited his quarters, he noticed that the agents around him reacted differently. For one, the instant he exited the door he couldn't help but catch the fact that about twenty people halted their work to salute him, including one junior agent who dropped a massive stack of paperwork.

"That…isn't necessary," he murmured, though he saluted back. Serena just giggled, mostly because this action was repeated at least ten times before they made it to the Research and Development Laboratories, a sub-division of PKM that specialized in the weaponry used by the agents and Rangers. "Why are we here?"

Serena just smirked. "Why do you think we're here?" she quipped and stopped just before a pair of tall, pale doors. "We're here because, as a ranger, you get all kinds of special goodies. Comes with the territory." She opened them and stepped through. Reluctantly, 0 followed her into the realm of the man called Agent 003, or…

"Bakaguru!" the Golden Ranger shouted, the moment he entered Research and Development. The small confines of the lab seemed to shift abruptly as Agent 003 flinched at his voice, his large mass quite able to do so. 0 and Serena found him making final adjustments to a strange motorcycle. 0 leant against the tool table, while Serena hugged the rather large man, though unable to fit her arms around him.

"Serena," he murmured in a high, nasally voice. "What brings you down here?" The giant man straightened himself and rearranged his glasses. "And what's he doing here?" He pointed a fat finger at 0, who ignored him, his interest stimulated by the vehicle Bakaguru was working on.

"New Golden Ranger, Bakaguru," Serena explained. "We're here to set in his stats as a Ranger, and reconfigure the Morpher."

"What is this?" 0 asked and pointed to the motorcycle. It was one of the finest machines he had ever seen. It looked like a motorcycle, but hovered off the ground with magnetic pulses. The sleek design was golden and black, exactly like his ranger uniform, and was obviously meant for going very, very fast. It looked sort of like a modified Kanto cycle, the handles located in special ports rather than extended from the front frame.

"It's called the 0 Cycle, Gold," Bakaguru answered. "It's a special vehicle designed for the Golden Ranger for transportation; It's a beauty, isn't it?" He pulled out a rag and wiped up his greasy head. His matted hair glistened with sweat, and he stuck the rag away in his pants before continuing. "The only engineering flaw is that there are no breaks installed, by request of the former Golden Ranger." He straightened the massive frames of his glasses. "Other than that, it depends on the skill of the driver. It has optimum steering, perfect balance, and a top speed of two hundred miles per hour."

"Just don't crash it into a wall," Serena offered with a sly grin.

0 groaned and shook his head. "That's reassuring, guys," he muttered. "Is there anything else I should know, like how the steering column works?" He placed a hand onto the surface of his new vehicle. "Have you ever seen me fall off even a scooter, 3? This'll be a cakewalk. What's next?"

Bakaguru pointed to a door on the west side of the laboratory. "Head over there," he murmured, returning his attention to the motorcycle. "That's the Golden Ranger's room, where we keep all your weapons and such. You'll need to register your morpher and morphing spirit there, so that you can access this nice 0 Cycle and everything you might need on the job. You can't carry it around with you."

"Did you say weapons?"

Bakaguru nodded. "I did. So what?"

"I already have one," 0 explained. "When I morphed for the first time, me and Pi managed to create this kind of sword. Can't I just use that?"

The technician's brows rose. "Excuse me?" he asked. "Did you just say you formed a weapon on your own?" The ranger nodded. "That's highly unusual. Your Pokemon's bond with you must be one of particular potency to do that… I might have to run some tests with Jessie."

0 smiled. "Hey, is James here too?"

Bakaguru nodded. "Yep. Got them and the Meowth working on something big for ya both. They'll be in the Weapons Testing room, next door to the ranger rooms. Keep it legal, you two." 0's face crimsoned while Serena giggled. Bakaguru waved goodbye, before resuming work on the 0 Cycle. "Don't distract them too much! I have them on a tight leash already for that annoying theme song they whine about all day!"

"Got it!" Serena replied, heading straight for the Golden Ranger room, a small door with bright gold paint on it in the form of a "0" written at eye level. "Here's where we keep your junk. Welcome." She pressed a small control unit on the side of the door and inputted a small password. The door beeped, and then opened. "Come on!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.

"Wow," was all he could say. The whole room, and bear it mind it was a decently sized room, was painted in gold and black. It was also mostly empty, save for a giant sword that hung on the wall opposite them. The sword he had summoned with Pikachu gleamed in the dim lighting. "Hey, my sword." He walked over to it, ignoring the comments being made by his partner about size. It seemed bigger to him, a few inches taller than he was, in fact.

"Compensating much?" Serena purred. Then she giggled, tossing her hair out of her eyes. "That's a nice blade, if you don't mind me saying… Is it in direct proportion to your 'short sword'?"

"That is none of your business."

She just laughed and motioned for him to follow her. He obliged and she led him to a computer terminal in the center of the room. "Here's where the data goes into," she explained, pointing to the monitor. "And there's where you need to swipe your morpher." She pointed to a small scanner on the side of the machine. "After you do that, we can register everything in this room for you to access at any time. Except the sword, which is weird, considering you shouldn't have been able to form it without the program. That's automatically saved to you."

He nodded. "I think I understood that," he answered. He held out the morpher and pressed it against the scanner. It beeped in confirmation. A giant page about him and his service record came online, displaying his rank as a ranger, before transferring to a blank, golden screen "Now what?"

"We make them," she replied sweetly, like a mother explaining to her infant. "Pi, want to lend us a hand?" She pressed a button on the other side of the machine and 0's morpher glowed. He raised it to his face, but an instant later the face of his morphing spirit emerged on the terminal's monitor.

"Hello!" Pi chirped in a very happy voice. 0 grinned. "Nice to see you again, Serena."

"Same, little buddy," she said. "I think you've lost weight. What's the secret?"

It laughed. "Get digitized."

"How've you been, Pi?" 0 asked.

"Fine," it answered. The screen zoomed out and the Pikachu's whole body was displayed sitting down lazily, a grin on its face. "It's nice in here, sort of. I guess it'll take some getting use to, but it's better than a Pokeball. At least here I can create programs to roam in virtual reality. Though I do sort of miss having to eat…" It stopped talking and stood up. "So, what exactly do you need?"

Serena shrugged. "Nothing much. We just need to run a few tests to make sure that as a morphing spirit, you're properly connected to your ranger. Then we need to activate his secondary weapon, considering you already made the primary one for him earlier."

"I did?" it asked, confused. "Oh, you mean the sword. I didn't make that. He did."

Serena swerved towards 0, who wisely remained silent. "Well, we'll check out the creation of that sword later. For now, think you can give me a hand?"

"Certainly." Pikachu opened a file and began to create a weapon. "What kind of weapon did you have in mind?"

"Tradition has always stated that all rangers normally have one melee weapon and one projectile weapon," Serena answered. "Considering you both already created the melee weapon in the form of the giant sword, how does a blaster, or something like that, sound?" She turned to 0 for his opinion.

"That sounds fine to me," he stated and folded his arms. "Good offensive."

"Okay. I should be able to cook something up," the little mouse answered and closed its eyes. "How does this look to you?" The program it had opened shifted, altering into a weapon. "Here comes the gun weapon!"

0 felt hard metal form in his hands and a bright light flashed from the computer and his hands. A teleportation, he figured, as the weapon began to form in his hands. It was gold and black, just like the theme of the Golden Ranger's uniform. The weapon resembled a sawn-off shotgun with twin chambers. "How will that work?" Pi asked its trainer.

"Interesting," Serena muttered. "It's a lot smaller than the other one." It fitted perfectly for one-handed usage, which would free up the other arm for attacking.

"That'll do, Pi," 0 said with a grin. He twirled the handle in his fingers, but didn't fire. "I might need some practice using it, but I'm a fast learner."

"Rangers don't need practice," Serena interjected. "All ranger uniforms come equipped with programs to help you fight with your weapons, considering the inexperience some rangers can have with the weapons their spirits create."

"Pi, disable that," 0 murmured and stopped playing with his gun. "I want it all natural." Pi squeaked its approval, but the White Ranger shook her head.

"Let's call it the Lightning Laser," the Pikachu suggested.

0 shook his head. "Something better, Pi. Nothing clichéd."

"My weapon. My name."

"My weapon. My having to call out its name."

"Overruled," Serena murmured, setting in the name on the computer. With another flash of light, the Lightning Laser vanished from 0's right hand. "Next, the name of the sword."

"Bolt Blade," Pi answered with enthusiasm, its face grinning. 0 groaned, but Serena smiled and inputted the name. The Bolt Blade glowed but stayed where it was, while the Lightning Laser emerged on the wall beside it, ready to be summoned.

"Such originality," 0 grunted, rubbing his head. "We need anything else?

Serena shook her head. "Nope. That'll do it. Thanks for the assist Pi."

"Not a problem, 3," the Pikachu replied cheerfully. "Please feel free to contact me should you require anything else." The screen flared, then Pikachu vanished, downloaded back into the morpher and waiting for summoning by 0.

Serena rolled her eyes. "I think Pi has more personality than you do," she giggled. 0 sighed, she had already forgotten their earlier quarrel. "I think he's the side of you that remembers a tiny thing called fuuuuuun."

"I'll file that away in my brain," he retorted dully. He turned round and started out of the room. "I think we're done here. Let's get ready for the mission. Be ready in two hours." Serena heard the door open and shut.

She fumed and stood up. "I need to get laid," she growled to herself. "And that boy's the only one who will do…" She grinned and headed out the doorway. Like 0, she too had things to prepare. Namely several cases of luggage filled with clothing.

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When 0 returned to his quarters, he cleared out his room. It didn't take very long, considering he had few personal possessions and all he was really going to need was extra clothing for his cover. He grabbed the locker underneath his bed and hauled it onto his desk, opening it to check its contents. A few Pokeballs from the old days, all emptied of course. When he had joined PKM and left his family, he had been lucky to get away with only Pikachu. The rest were with Professor Oak, his old rival. "Hope Gary's taking good care of them with Tracey," he muttered. He ignored the photos and dumped some of his clothing inside. "Pi, how are we doing on time?"

"We have one hour, thirty minutes, and twenty-seven seconds."

0 nodded. "That's good." He looked onto the desk and grabbed the picture that Serena had messed with. He sighed. "Pi, can I ask you something about this mission?"

"Certainly," the Pokemon answered. "Would you like to know anything further about the mission specs or the details?"

"Neither." The Golden Ranger picked up the gun and knife he kept underneath his cot and tucked the weapons into holsters beneath his clothing. "It's 3. Do you think she has some sort of ulterior motive in coming with me on this assignment?"

"Well, since you are going to be partners on this mission, I think you should start by calling her by her name, rather than her designation," it suggested. "For all the trouble you think she causes you, I think she's genuinely concerned about you. She is your friend."

0 laughed. "She annoys me," he murmured, stashing away some food from his stores into the locker. He found only a few bottles of beer, but he took what he could find, along with several doses of serum. "She lives to make me feel uncomfortable, Pi."

"Don't worry about it too much," the Pikachu replied soothingly. "I recall you used to be just like her a few years ago. Guess it comes with adulthood and all. Maybe she's trying to help you have some fun. I know for a fact you could use some."

"I was not a horndog when I was young," 0 grumbled, shutting the locker. "And I didn't let myself get worked up over a little photo." He pulled out the strap attached to the locker and slung it over his shoulder. He looked at the picture and groaned. "I miss those days, Pi. But I also know that they can't happen again." He tucked the picture away into his pockets and started for the door. "This isn't a fairy tale. It doesn't have a happy ending for me."

"It would if you'd let it, friend," Pikachu answered.

"Let's just get going," 0 said, terminating the conversation. He exited the room and started directly for the hangers. It wouldn't take long, but he liked to be early. It helped him make his decisions when he had more time to make them. His door hissed shut behind him and didn't look back, his attention focused on the narrow corridor ahead of him.

"Do not salute," he ordered a passerby, who had the look in their eye of a new recruit, who still obeyed the guidebook to the letter. "I hate salutes." The recruit, who seemed to be very scared, wisely followed the direction he was given and ran for cover. 0 grinned. "I like this."

"Don't scare newbies," his Pokemon reprimanded him.

"Why?"

"Because it…isn't nice?"

0 snorted. "Whatever gave you the impression I was a nice person?" he asked the mouse. "I'm not a nice person."

"Yes you are."

"Shut up."

"Nope."

0 decided not to argue with Pi and turned left. The hangers weren't located too far away from the living quarters, considering PKM had to be on standby twenty-four-seven for deployment. Serena had told him the departure was at the second hanger, so he had naturally made absolutely certain that that was true. He opened the door to the first hanger, where a private helicopter was waiting for him on the launch pad. Personnel still were handling it, making sure it was at optimum performance before departure.

"Hello, sir," a voice behind him quipped and he jumped. A small technician was smiling at him through dark-rimmed glasses, her hair in a bundled up ponytail. "How are you doing this evening, sir?"

"You called me 'sir' already," he muttered. "You can stop."

"Okay, sir," she answered on impulse, before bending back into her clipboard. "Would you like a report on the efficiency of the helicopter you will be piloting? Do you know how to pilot this craft? If so, would you like me to take you to a simulation?"

0 held up three fingers. "No, yes, and hell no," he answered, counting down each answer on his fingers. "The only thing I want to know is where the nearest beer is."

"Alcohol should not be consumed before flight, sir, as it decreases the brain's ability to properly handle the controls of a flying craft," she pointed out, pointing the eraser end of a pencil at him. "Anything else?"

"Yes," he answered. "Please get someone to get me a beer, since I work better with it in my system." He lifted his hand and gave her a thumb's up. "Do so now. Posthaste, in fact."

She grumbled, but he put his thumb on the bright golden 0 on his uniform, so she obeyed and scurried off somewhere. "That wasn't nice," Pi muttered from the morpher.

"I'm not nice, and I'd like some booze while I wait for 3 to pack every single shred of cloth she owns. It's gonna be a while."

And he was correct. Fifteen minutes later, the technician returned with a frosty mug of ale and he thanked her kindly. He asked her to then leave and she did, returning to her other duties for the helicopter launch while he waited for Serena to reemerge. Which she did, ninety minutes later, with numerous grunt Agents in tow carrying her belongings.

"Well, that took you long enough," he sighed and watched as the poor, backbreaking Agents began to load the helicopter with her belongings. "Ten bucks says the machine doesn't hold all your junk." Serena fumed but sat down beside him.

"Is that all you brought?" she asked incredulously, pointing at the locker by his feet.

"It's all I need," he answered. He took another sip. "Anyway, what's the big deal with being so late? Is it really necessary to pack so many clothes?" Then he noticed what she was wearing. "And why exactly are you dressed like that?" The touch of red stained his cheeks for only an instant, but an instant was all Serena needed for ammunition.

She wasn't wearing her uniform anymore, far from it. Having opted for something more causal, she now wore jeans so tight they looked painted on. Her navel was showing too, considering the white shirt that hung on her on spaghetti straps only reached to the middle of her stomach. A few bracelets adorned her arms, disguising the white morpher on her right hand, while her snowy locks were bundled up into a bun. Needless to say, the majority of her helpers were male.

"I like it," she decided. "You can't go out in public in military gear. We're gonna have to take you shopping."

"Not going to happen," he retorted and took another swig of ale. "Besides, I'll change once we reach the safe house in Petalburg." He scratched his head. "I have clothing of my own, none of which look like that."

"You sound like my father," she murmured, pushing her seat next to his. 0 noticed that she wasn't wearing a bra, simply from her proximity. "I want to have fun on this mission, so I wanted to wear something that would help me blend in with the surrounding culture."

"I'm fairly certain that you will not blend in wearing that," he muttered, looking away. "You will be standing out in the crowds." The technician came over, thankfully interrupting the ever-uncomfortable conversation.

"We've loaded all of Ms. Brine's equipment into the helicopter," she announced. "Would you like to proceed to the helicopter for takeoff?"

"Thanks. We will." 0 stood up and lugged his locker in the direction of the helipad. The chopper in question was small and black. For covert operations, he thought to himself, opening the door. He threw the locker underneath the seat and took his place in the captain's chair. "Get in, 3."

"Lock and load," she replied eagerly, climbing into the co-pilot chair. "Any chance of joining the mile high club while we're up there?"

"Not a Vanillux's chance in a volcano," he retorted, placing on an earpiece for communication. "This is Poke 122, requesting permission for takeoff." He glanced over at Serena, who had placed on a helmet for protection. "All parties ready for liftoff."

"This is control tower," crackled a voice into his ear. "Poke 122, you have been cleared for takeoff. Opening shuttle doors now. Takeoff at will."

"Will comply," 0 answered and buckled himself into his chair. The hanger doors ahead began to open, revealing to 0 the moonlit Orre desert. He punched a button and gripped the throttle of the helicopter. Serena, always the daredevil, stuck her head out of the window, grinning as the chopper blades began to swing above their heads. "Let's get going, 3."

"Good luck, rangers," the control tower said.

"Roger." 0 felt the strange jerk of motion as the chopper lifted itself from the ground. He pulled the controls up and the chopper lurched forward. "Get your head in the chopper," he ordered, noticing that she hadn't bothered to even buckle her seatbelt. "Do so now." Then he grinned and jerked the chopper around in the air, banging her head against the window. "I said get ready."

Serena stuck her tongue at him, rubbed her head, and returned to her seat. 0 pushed on the throttle and the craft began moving forward. "Adios, PKM," he sighed, as the helicopter reached the optimum altitude to properly launch from PKM's hangers. "Are you ready for the mission, 3?"

"Yeah," she answered, strapping herself into her seat.

"I wonder how Hoenn is at this time of year," he sighed. "It's been a long time since I was sent out there… This should be entertaining." Ahead of them, the Orre desert bloomed into their sights, an endless sea of desert that spanned the horizon. "It's bright. How is it so bright at night? I wish I had the shades."

Both Rangers discontinued any conversation.


	6. Morph 6

**Morph Six: Life in Petalburg**

_ "You doing alright?"_

_ He had noticed that, in her anxiousness, she had begun once again to play with her hands, one of her many nervous habits. It was actually funny, considering she was usually the calmer of the two of them. He took one of her hands and held it gently. "It's just a routine checkup, honey," he assured her, before leaning in to peck her cheek. "Just to see how the little guy's coming along."_

_ "Or girl," she pointed out, resting her free hand on her already bulging belly. "I thought we agreed we wouldn't find out until the baby's born."_

_ He nodded. "Of course I remember that. The deal was I could name him if we didn't learn what he was before he comes."_

_ She chuckled. "You really want a boy, don't you?"_

_ "Girls are fine too. But a boy's an excuse for me to play with all my old toys."_

_ "Excuse me? Sir, ma'am?"_

_ They looked up at the nurse, a plump, friendly woman in her forties. "Dr. Heinz will see you now."_

_ "Thank you, Agnes," he replied, and helped his wife to her feet. Agnes, the kind woman that she was, held the door open so that his heavily pregnant wife wouldn't be troubled. "We'll be out in a little while."_

_ "He'll be with you in just a moment," she added with a wink, closing the door behind her. He looked around the office, searching for a place to sit. He spotted a place right next to the examining table and dashed for it, while his wife took her position on the paper-covered table, her legs dangling off the edge. Upon the request from the nurse, his wife had taken off her jacket and worn the shirt she had to put on every time they visited for checkups. Dr. Heinz, a man that both thought had an uncanny resemblance to their friend Dr. Oak, came into the room only minutes later, which was speedy. He held in his hand both a chart and a cup of coffee._

_ "Well, it's a pleasure to see you both again," he said cheerfully as he set down his java. "It's coming soon, isn't it?"_

_ "Aren't you the doctor?" the father asked, jokingly._

_ The doctor scoffed. "That's what the stethoscope is for, sir," he said with reverence and dramatically pointed to the medical instrument that dangled from his neck. All three laughed while Dr. Heinz opened the chart. "So, how have you and the baby been doing, ma'am?"_

_ She brushed her auburn hair out of her face. "We've been fine. Lately the baby has taken to kicking whenever we watch television."_

_ "What do you watch?"_

_ At this, her husband's cheeks turned slightly red. "We've been watching the non-stop coverage of a Pokemon Championship being held in Johto. I think he likes the noises of the Pokemon."_

_ The doctor raised his brows. "Well," he murmured, writing it down, "I'm not the least bit surprised, considering who the father is." Her husband merely grinned with pride. "Well, how's about we check on that baby?" She nodded in agreement and laid herself down on the paper sheet of the table. Dr. Heinz wheeled over the ultrasound machine and removed the transducer from its holder. "Ready?"_

_ She took a deep breath. "Yes, Doctor."_

_ "Okay." For some reason, the transducer always felt cold against her bare belly. The doctor flipped on the monitor, where at once a fuzzy image began to take the shape of a developing baby. "Hear that?" Both parents listened to the little one's movements and a very strong thumping noise followed. "That's the baby's heartbeat. So far, there's nothing wrong with the child other than that."_

_ "What's wrong with it?" her husband demanded, rising from his seat._

_ The doctor paused, then looked at the screen again. "It's not a bad thing, just abnormal. Come over here and look at this." He joined Dr. Heinz by the monitor, where the doctor pointed at the heart rate. "See that? It's much stronger than a normal baby's."_

_ "What does that mean?" asked the mother._

_ The doctor scratched his head. "Well, it could mean that your child had larger blood vessels for a fetus, or it could just mean that there is more blood than average circulating. It's not a bad thing, just strange."_

_ "Is the baby going to be okay?" she asked._

_ Dr. Heinz nodded. "Of course. You have a perfectly healthy baby, ma'am." Both parents sighed in relief. "And, with that, I think we'll conclude the ultrasound." Dr Heinz removed the transducer from the wife's stomach and she rubbed her swollen belly protectively. "So," he added, removing his gloves and tossing them into the nearby trash basket, "have you thought of any names for the baby?"_

_ "He gets to name the baby," she answered, pointing to her husband. "Direct questions related to that to him."_

_ He laughed. "I've thought of a few, but I'm still not sure which I should put more emphasis into checking out. I decided that, if it's a girl, we'd name her Sarah, after my late grandmother."_

_ "That's lovely," Dr. Heinz said._

_ The husband just blushed. "Man, I really wish I knew what our kid's going to be." His wife pulled on his sleeve and he grinned. "It's only so I could know whether to buy a red or pink Pokedex for the little guy or gal."_

_ "Let it be a surprise, darling."_

_ "And if it's a boy?" asked Dr. Heinz as he begun to write on the chart._

_ "Well, I was thinking maybe…"_

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"0?"

The Golden Ranger snapped out of his trance. He wasn't piloting the helicopter anymore, having had the foresight to plot a course on the autopilot long before they arrived in Hoenn. It had been a several hour flight from Orre and he had spoken very little since their departure. 0 broke the silence only to confirm their location with PKM headquarters. "Yeah?" he asked and turned his head over to where his partner sat half-asleep.

"We almost there?" she asked, somewhat dazed.

0 checked their coordinates. They were approaching the vicinity of North Petalburg, only a few miles by the outskirts of the actual Petalburg City itself. "We'll be there in a few minutes," he replied. "I'll activate stealth mode for the chopper while we cross over the city." 0 flipped the switch next to the dashboard and the outer hull of the machine converted from the sleek paint job PKM had given it into a camouflage backdrop that would make it all but impossible for the naked eye of both humans and Pokemon to find it. "Do you have an address for the safe house?" He hadn't been to Petalburg in years and as such was not as certain of the cartography as he once was.

Fortunately, Serena had had the instinct to bring a map of the city "It should be here," she murmured, her finger pointed at an unseen portion of the map. "Turn the chopper north ninety degrees and we should be there in ten minutes." 0 input the coordinate changes into the autopilot and the helicopter made the adjustments. "There should be a space large enough for us to land down there." 0 glanced down and saw the building. It was a moderately tall one, probably some sort of apartment complex. 0 counted ten stories total in its height. Across the street was the gym, but the ranger ignored it. He instead focused on the landing area below them.

"Is the helicopter going to make a lot of noise when we arrive?" he asked and engaged the landing gear. "I have it on stealth mode, but that really only helps with surprise attacks."

She shrugged. "I think that normal people are far more unprepared than the organizations we attack. We should be good."

"Thanks," 0 answered. The autopilot did everything perfectly, and soon 0 felt a jerk in his stomach as the landing gear touched down on the rooftop. "Get your stuff out. I'll convert the helicopter into capsule form and get out one for your luggage too. Move." 0 grabbed his satchel and jumped out of his side of the chopper, but it took Serena a much longer time to get everything out.

0 shut the door, then felt a spasm shoot through his body. He groaned and leaned against the chopper for support. _I need more serum_. He made a mental note to take some the moment they got into the apartment and pressed his brow against the cool helicopter's surface until he heard Serena shut her door on the other side. "Ready, 3?" he asked.

"You could be helping me here!" he heard her shout from the other side.

He chuckled. "Group it together and I'll see what I can do," he replied, then pressed a small button on the side of the chopper. The entire machine flashed red and then dissolved into a small capsule on the rooftop. "I'm glad they managed to figure out how to do this with Pokemon, but they worked a miracle with these capsules." He grinned, and looked over to Serena, whose face was very red and whose luggage was in a random jumble. "Are they within five feet of each other?"

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered. "I don't have any capsules. Lend me one."

0 nodded and rummaged through his pockets for something of use. He found an empty one and withdrew it. "I'll do it. Stand back," he ordered. Serena obeyed and stepped away for 0 to capture the luggage. The ranger clicked the bottom of the capsule and tossed it into the luggage, where it impacted and captured all of the pieces of luggage in one red burst. The capsule, having performed its function, fell onto the roof, where 0 reclaimed and pocketed it. "Let's get inside, it's cold out here. Contact HQ and let them know we got here okay."

As he wrenched open the door to the inside of the building, he caught snippets of the conversation. "This is PKM Agents 0, Gold, and 3, White. Poke 122 has landed safely and we are heading inside." He heard a confirmation from the other end, then heard something that terrified him. "And, as per our agreement, no double beds, correct?" And then, another confirmation. "Thanks guys. Nighty night!" She clicked off her communicator and smiled at 0's deeply concerned face. "What?" she asked innocently and widened her smile.

"Those guys are completely incompetent," he grumbled. "Tell whoever that was that, whatever else is wrong with me, at least you'll have more room."

She followed him inside. "And why is that?"

"Are we forgetting I don't sleep?" he asked sarcastically.

She grumbled softly to herself. "Stupid serum. Stop taking it."

He shook his head and began descending the stairs towards their apartment. "It's a tough habit to kick, 3, especially when if you take it as long as I have. If I went off it now I'd be in a coma tomorrow."

"Does taking advantage of an unconscious person constitute rape?"

0 ended the conversation then and there. He led his partner down the flights of stairs towards the third floor. "What room number is it?" he asked as they neared the floor.

"Apartment 308," she answered.

He held his hand out behind his back. "Give up the keys. I know you've got them somewhere." A jingle issued and the keys promptly fell into his fingers. "Thanks." He took the one for the main door and stuck it in the keyhole when they reached the modest-looking door. He undid the lock and opened the door for Serena. 0's hair brushed against the tiny door's frame as they walked inside. 0 switched on the light and shut the door behind him.

Like the hallway, the walls were painted a light cream color, probably to make the apartment seem bigger. The main room was made of only about eight or ten tatami, 0 really didn't bother to count. A TV in the corner, and a window which displayed the nearby gym in full view were most of what he noticed, along with a kneeling table with two cushions sat in the center of the room, with a stove, oven and, of course, microwave, standing on the right side of the room atop a silverware cabinet with drawers and a little fridge. _She'll never use those._ Serena had already opened the sliding doors on the other side, which revealed a small sleeping area and a door connecting to what was most likely a bath. There was only one mat and Serena squealed when she saw it.

"Don't count on it, 3," he cut her off. "I don't sleep, remember?"

She pouted. "Ohh, we'll see about that." She grinned. "So, how about the luggage?" 0 offered her a grin in return.

"Oh, we'll see about that," he replied with a smirk as he dropped his satchel to the floor. "Depends on how you behave tonight."

"That could be taken in so many different ways," she purred at him.

0 groaned and tossed her the capsule containing her luggage. While she dealt with her things, the ranger headed towards the curtains on the other side of the room. With his hand, he parted them to reveal a large window across the wall, which happened to be in perfect viewing of the Petalburg Gym across the street. "We need to get the surveillance equipment over there as soon as we can." He turned to Serena, who was organizing her luggage. "You did remember to do that, right?"

She looked up. "Do what?"

"Bring the equipment."

"Maybe. It depends on how well you behave tonight." She stuck out her tongue.

0 shuddered. "There's really only one I will probably be able to take that," he mumbled under his breath. "Just get some sleep. I'll review the case documents during the night and keep watch."

She stuck her tongue out again, but complied with his order. She closed the bathroom and before long he could hear bathwater running. 0 walked towards the small bag, the only article of her luggage she had brought down with her, and retrieved the file folder that she had left for him. It was at least fifty pages thick. "Well, at least I have plenty to keep me occupied tonight."

"0," said Pi.

0 held his hand up to his ear. "What's up, Pi?" he asked and tucked the folder under his arm.

"Just a tiny reminder, you should probably take the serum soon," it answered. "We don't need another episode like when the old 0 tried to stop you from taking it, remember?" 0 groaned.

"I'll take care of it right now." 0 bent over and picked up his satchel from where he had deposited it and proceeded to rummage through it for his serum and syringe. Once his located one of the vials and a sterile needle, he loaded the serum into the syringe and lifted up his uniform sleeve to expose his pincushion of a right arm. "Heh. If I didn't know any better, Pi, I'd say this was a drug addict's arm."

"You are an addict, 0."

"Yeah, but it doesn't interfere with my work, so it isn't bad for me."

0 dug the needle deep into one of the vessels in his arm. While it stung a bit, 0 was no stranger to pain, so he pushed down on the syringe's trigger to send the serum shooting into his bloodstream. Once the vial had been emptied, 0 removed the needle and set it onto the table. A small amount of blood was trickling out from his skin, so he used his other hand to stop it. A small bit of pressure and a minute later, his skin had started to clot and the blood had stopped. "All done," 0 muttered. "I'll sterilize the needle for another shot later.

"So, Pi," he said as he stood up, "tell me about out target."

"You know about the target, 0."

"I knew the target at one time. Refresh my memory."

Pi sighed, but relayed the information to him in the manner of a person who was explaining to another person something considered very common knowledge. "The target is in her early twenties and is named May Birch. Listed as living in Petalburg, a recent change of address to the Petalburg City Gym has been confirmed, which is owned and operated by the target's brother, Max Birch, the current Petalburg Gym Leader. Has one daughter, name Sarah Birch. The father is unlisted, as alterations to the birth certificate were made by permission of Petalburg City's court system. The target's father is Norman Birch and the mother is Caroline Birch, both listed as living in the Gym.

0 nodded. "Recent accomplishments?" he asked with a slight grin.

"I'm not going to continue. Read the report."

0 chuckled. "Sorry, Pi." He pressed the button for the elevator and, after a few moments, the machine opened. "I love our high tech society," he said sarcastically and hopped on. He opened the folder as the doors closed. "No security forces nearby working with her…no shadowing… Good. The last thing I want is for this to be messed up by Jenny."

"Wouldn't Jenny be an asset?"

"Not in this kind of operation. The Jennys are more suited to active protection, not covert. If there's collateral damage they'd be perfect for the job, because we're only here to protect the target from the assassins. Jenny can't do that because she's too noticeable. Covert means 3 and I can't draw attention to our civilian identities. That's the reason for Ranger uniforms."

"Really?" 0 could almost see Pi's raised eyebrow. "I thought that was for giant fights or something."

"Little of both," the ranger admitted. "The only reason I'm probably here is because of my prior relationship with the target. Remember when we started we had to go to so many places that were far away? It's because of my former celebrity status." He ruffled his mane of hair. "Had to grow this giant mesh and get the 'super tan' just to be let out in cities." He flexed his mouth. "And the Orre-dialect lessons weren't fun."

"I thought it was pretty funny, watching you forced to say the word 'ball' about twenty times before you got the right pronunciation." Pi laughed and 0 grumbled.

As he scanned the basic data for the mission, only a few things caught his full attention. Aside from the locations of the target's living quarters, there was a single number on the sheet, displaying a PKM contact in the vicinity of Petalburg. "I can use this," he muttered and opened the channels for Pi. "Buddy, think you can get me in contact with an Agent 415? Number 555-333-0339?"

"Are you sure you want to at this hour?" it asked. 0 glanced at his morpher, which displayed the time _6:03._ He nodded and heard Pi dial. "There you are. Connecting now."

Dial tone filled his ear. "Thanks." The phone rang for about half a minute before the dial cut off and someone who had been in the middle of a very important snooze answered.

"Who… Who is it?" a voice asked groggily. From the sound of it, 415 was a man who deeply enjoyed sleep early in the morning. "I am perfectly happy with my insurance, if that is what you are calling about."

0 tried to keep his snickers to himself and decided to have a little fun at 415's behalf. "Yes. This is Agent 0. How are you? Hard at work?" At the announcement of his rank, 0 heard a violent smash in the background, followed by an even more violent curse, issue in response.

"Is this a secure line?" came the answer, which was followed by a stifled yawn.

PKM communicators were one of the finest pieces of communication technology on the planet, virtually untraceable. "Yep. How've you been? Working hard?"

"Yes," he replied. "Always pounding my nose to the grindstone."

"Well, that's good to hear. Listen, the White Ranger and I are new in town, and we wanted to see some sights with you. Think you can arrange something for tomorrow?"

"Of course," 415 answered. "Where did you have in mind?"

"Can you come by the house?"

A cough issued. "Afraid not," 415 said. "I cannot disclose my whereabouts to you and I cannot come to your safe house without worries that someone else will find out my identity. Can you think of a public place where it would be safer?"

0 thought about it. "How about the mall on the east side of town at about noon?"

"That works. See you at ten," he answered. 0 disconnected the link and Pi returned to his ears.

"Don't be so mean."

0 arched his brow at the mouse Pokemon's kidding voice. "Why do people think I'm a nice person? I keep telling them I'm not…" His voice trailed off and he caught a glimpse of the sun rising. "Do we have to go back downstairs? You know she'll be snoring like a Snorlax in there."

"We face our fears," the Pokemon answered sagely.

"I suppose so," he admitted. "But how about before said facing of fears we grab some chow?"

"Some alcohol for you, and some food for Serena," Pi suggested. "Good idea. I'm sure she'll be hungry when she wakes up."

0 nodded. "I think there's a gas station around here that sells bento. What's our budget?"

"We can afford things to eat, 0."

"Then out into Petalburg we go then, Pi."

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_She stands alone on a small hill in southwest Kanto, taking in the breeze of the nearby sea. It smells of salt and water, something she has always found exotic, considering she had lived in the mainland of Hoenn in her early years. It is far vaster than any lakes she has visited. _

_ She wears a lithe sundress, for it is the middle of summer, and too hot for much else. Her hair is tied into two ponytails, and beside her is a small picnic spread she has cooked herself, with some help from her mother-in-law. It isn't much, just some foods and a bottle of wine, but it will be enough for who she is waiting for. She giggles to herself, and feels quite a few years younger than her age, almost like a schoolgirl with a crush. He is late, of course, as he has a bad concept of time. But she has learned to tolerate his tardiness, knowing that he frequently brings a present to make up for them._

_ As if on cue, ten minutes late, she catches him pedaling up towards her through the grass. His face is red, as if he has hurried the mile it takes to ride from his house to the beach, and he is panting. She notices, rather unusually, that his shoulder is bare. "He must have left Pikachu back at the house," she muses._

_ He arrives moments later. "Sorry, honey," he apologizes, while he gasps for breath. She forgives him, as she always does, by leaning in for the first kiss of the day…_

May Birch disliked early mornings.

It had taken her years to realize that the day did not have to begin at seven in the morning, long after she had stopped traveling around with her friends. Unfortunately, since Sarah had been born, the choice of when she would wake was not often up to her. So on days like this, when Sarah was busy chasing around Max's Pokemon in the training areas, she relished the feel of the warm, fuzzy sheets against her body.

It was several hours past sunrise, at least nine in the morning. Max would already be up, hard at work training with his powerful team of Pokemon. He always got up at six so he could get at least four hours worth of training before the Gym officially opened. She giggled. Her brother had gotten so serious over the past few years that, were it not for his sense of humor and knowledge, she barely recognized him from the little boy who had so often critiqued her about Pokemon.

Slowly, because she was sometimes lazy in the morning, she started to stretch her sleep-filled muscles under the blanket and rubbed her eyes. It was almost a quarter after nine when she actually had enough energy to get off the bed. Yawning, she began to walk in the direction of her mirror. She sat down on the stool and began grooming her massive, tangled clump of auburn hair.

It felt like such a long time, but in actuality only two days had lapsed since the attack at the Contest. She shivered. Jenny had told her that there wouldn't be any police protection, and only promised her that she was being looked after. _Maybe it's that ranger that showed up. Or Keean Toby._ She would have appreciated either's presence, or just some sort of confirmation that she, Sarah, and their family would be protected. And again her thoughts drifted to the dark warrior. He had been appearing with increasing frequency in her dreams, always holding her. _I wish he would leave me alone_, she thought bitterly, and finished combing her hair. She grabbed a shirt and some pants, and headed out to the training fields.

Since the training grounds were on the ground floor, she had to descend down two flights of stairs before she entered the massive facility. Since her father Norman had retired, Max had redone much of the Gym. Now, the whole place looked like a combat field in Orre. Max himself was training in the corner with Gallade and Grovyle, instructing them in sparring training. Another of Max's Pokemon, a Mightyena was running around the circular Gym arena, outstripping the Buneary doll it was supposed to be chasing.

Max spotted her as she entered the training room, and signaled to Gallade and Grovyle to continue training alone before approaching her, grabbing a towel off a nearby rack. "Morning big sis," he greeted, bowing his head. "You here for training?" He patted his sweating brow.

She shook her head. "Not yet, kiddo. The Pokemon can still train, but I'm taking it easy for a little bit."

He nodded. "Sure. I think Skitty's running around here somewhere." Then he arched his brow. "And don't call me kiddo. I'm bigger than you are now." To illustrate this point, he looked down at her and glared through his glasses.

"Kiddo, kiddo, kiddo," she chanted with a smile.

Max's lips tightened, then cracked into a smile. "Given recent events, I'll allow this regression into childish antics. Go get something to eat. I think Sarah's demolishing Mother's stores of food as we speak."

May sighed. "Thanks, I'm kind of hungry." She winked at Grovyle and Gallade, who responded with bows. "Don't work too hard, okay?"

Max laughed. "Come on, we've been training for three hours. We've barely started today's work." His Pokemon seemed to agree with him, and shouted fiercely at her, thumping their chests. "Let's go guys!" Promptly, May noticed that she was ignored, for Max was very dedicated to training. _The dark warrior influenced him so much…_ she thought, before she turned to the kitchen on the other side of the dojo. She smiled at Beautifly as it flew above her and opened the doors to the smells of breakfast.

Speaking of the dark warrior… She caught Sarah's eyes first, as she always did. Her daughter instantly brightened up and began to charge, even though she was halfway through with a bowl of cereal at the moment, in the direction of her mother. The bowl went flying to the ground, and May felt two little arms wrap around her.

"Morning, baby girl," she said with a smile. "Why aren't you in school today?"

Sarah laughed. "Mommy, no school today, remember? It got cancelled for a few days because of the thingy."

Caroline chuckled. "The teachers went on strike for a couple of days. They closed it down for the week while they negotiate with the unions."

"Oh, I see."

She picked up Sarah and set her back onto her stool. "Eat up, baby girl. You want to grow up big and strong, right?" Her daughter nodded eagerly, then returned to shoveling down her food. Making a mental note to continue teaching Sarah proper dining etiquette, May wandered into the kitchen to see what was up for breakfast. Caroline had made plenty for the whole family.

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"Twenty bento, and a six pack of Kanto imported."

The teenager behind the counter opened his eyes a little wider at the order. It was far too early for most to be awake, but 0 felt quite refreshed and energized, as he did at any time of the day. But 0 wagged a few bills in the boy's face to divert attention away from his strange order, and soon the cashier was busy totaling up the cost of the dark man's purchases. A satisfying ding issued from the old register, and the boy handed 0 his receipt and change. "Thank you," the ranger said, addressing the portion of the teen's head that he assumed the eyes were located in, before packing away the bento and beer away in two paper bags. "I'll be back."

"You've got a weird getup there, mister," the clerk said before the customer could leave. 0 turned around curiously, and noticed that the boy was pointing at his uniform. "You some kind of cop?"

In his haste to prepare everything, 0 had foolishly forgotten to change into civilian attire before stepping into the real world. He was still wearing the Golden Ranger uniform Serena had made him put on. Without missing a beat, 0 looked up and replied with an air of indifference, "Cosplay," before letting himself out of the store.

Halfway down the street, the earpiece switched on. "Good answer," Pi said.

0 smiled at Pi's approval. "I'm new to the secret identity thing," he muttered. "Being a regular agent was easy, at least you could wear civilian clothes. If we get busted by a gas clerk one day into the operation, we're going to have serious problems later on when the terrorists start taking shots." The Pikachu laughed into the earpiece. "Let's get back to the apartment. Twenty bucks says the Snorlax is still asleep when we get inside."

"I'm not taking that bet."

"You know I'll win," 0 replied with a grin. "Besides, I figure if we make her something nice to eat, and you know how much she loves bento, she might not attack me today. I need her in a good mood before we go to meet Agent 415." He heard a slight cackle in the receiver. "Have some confidence in peaceful resolutions, Pi."

"With Serena as your partner?"

"Good point," the ranger conceded as he neared the apartment.

0 quietly opened the apartment door, as he did not wish to anger his housemate by awakening her without a peace offering. The moment the door swung open, and 0 debated whether it was his hand or the sounds coming from the sleeping area that opened it, 0 got the impression that in his absence a pack of wild Munchlax had managed to get into the room, devour Serena, and settle in for a week-long doze. "Well, let's wake up the sleeping beast," he decided and headed over to the fridge to stuff nineteen bento and the six pack inside, leaving one lunchbox out for the microwave. _There are only three things that will wake 3 up: food, sex, and danger_. And, as the third was null and he was unwilling to perform the second, 0 stuffed the bento box into the microwave and punched in the five minutes needed to heat it up. Shortly after, a wonderful smell began to issue from inside and a swift kick issued from the other room, smacking into what sounded like the wall. "That'll do it." 0 headed over to the fridge for his morning dose of alcohol.

As he opened the can with a satisfying hiss, a very sleepy Serena poked her head through the sliding door. She sniffed the air hopefully then looked towards the microwave. "Food?" she asked hopefully, and reminded 0 very much of a wild Pokemon.

0 smiled and nodded. "Help yourself," he answered, gesturing towards the microwave as it finished preparing her meal. He took a swig of beer as the White Ranger made a mad dash for the food. "I hope you slept well. We have a meeting today that we can't miss." He sat opposite her on a cushion in front of the table and was forced to watch the carnage that was Serena eating.

"Wi' 'oo?" she inquired between inhaling pieces of vegetables with her chopsticks.

"Our contact in this city, a person carrying the number 415." 0 held up one of the documents on the table, partially for emphasis and also to keep stray food from flicking over it. "His information is listed here. I gave him a call last night and set up a meeting with him this morning."

Serena nodded from her lunch box. "Makes sense," she said, stuffing down another carrot. "What time are we going to go see him?"

0 checked his morpher, which informed him that it was getting around the time he had told 415 to come to the meeting. "Around ten, right after you finish eating. He said he wouldn't come to the safe house so we arranged to meet at the mall. So, if you hurry up, we can leave and still have about twenty minutes to spare."

The other ranger finished her meal with a loud sigh of satisfaction, then stared at 0 with utter confusion. "Uh…0?" she asked.

0 looked up. "Yeah?"

She pointed at him or, more specifically, at the fact that he was still in his uniform. "I know I said I love men in uniform, but you aren't seriously going to go to the meeting in that thing, are you? It sort of stands out in a trendy mall."

"You've got a point there…" He glanced down at the very glaring uniform and decided that maybe just once it would be a good idea to take Serena's advice. "I'll change into some street clothes from my satchel. No peeking."

She groaned. "That takes all the fun out of the idea."

He ignored her, set down his bottle, and grabbed the bag he had previously tossed away. 0 pushed the sliding doors shut and, for additional measure, propped the strewn mat she had slept in as a secondary buffer. He stripped down relatively quickly to his underwear and kept to the shaded side of the room, just in case Serena had been seriously considering peeking on him. He removed a pair of pants and shirt from the bag and dressed hastily. He donned the black pants and golden shirt, slipped his boots back on, and readjusted the chain of his necklace before exiting the room to reclaim his seat.

Serena purred. "Very nice…"

"Whatever." 0 picked his beer back up and drank his alcohol, staring out of the window. "As soon as possible, we need to add surveillance inside the Gym. I'm fairly certain that the target doesn't stay cooped up in her room all day, so we should probably make sure Pi can track her via cameras." Serena, her mouth full, expelled several pieces of rice agreeing with him, several of which landed on his face. His mouth twitched and he wiped the rice off. "What do you think Pi?"

"That should work. I can upload plenty of information into the morpher, so a camera system wouldn't be a problem."

"Then let's go!" Serena announced, having finished her bento and tossed it into a trash can. She grabbed 0 with a virility that he did not expect from a half-conscious woman and threw him out the door, locking it on their way out. "We've got a target to protect!"

"Voice down!" he snapped, as she hauled him out of the apartment building. "Do you not realize we have a cover to maintain?" Fortunately, the street was relatively empty, save for a homeless gentleman who was far too busy soiling himself to notice their conversation. "Let's take the bus."

Serena raised her brows. "Why?"

"Because crazy people take the bus," he explained, marching her to the stop on the corner. "I figure you're safest amongst your own kind." She stuck her tongue out at him, but wisely did not argue the matter. He then received the pleasure of having his foot crushed by her heels. It wasn't until then that he noticed she had somehow changed her clothes, from the very revealing attire she had worn the night before to a business suit with giant glasses and high-heels.

He arched his brows. "How'd you get that get-up?" he asked, not quite able to stop himself from staring at her.

She smirked and held up her white morpher, which looked exactly like his: a digital watch. "Mine's equipped to change clothes to a few different settings I have. Each of us have different settings modified to our morphers. For instance, I think 4 has some kind of holographic distortion thing set up."

"Interesting," he mumbled back, making sure that none of the others waiting for the bus could hear them. "Do you think mine's got anything on it?"

"Not if you haven't specially programmed it. I had to get Bakaguru to make mine." She dangled it in front of him. "Want to see what else I can wear?"

"No," 0 said firmly, as a large bus skidded to a stop in front of him and wheezed open its doors. Thanks to his past living arrangements, 0 knew the bus system around Petalburg like the back of his hand, having had to return to the city numerous times.

"By the way," Serena said, as they took seats in the section furthest away from other people, "have we decided on our aliases while working down here?"

"I'm Keean Toby, if that's what you're asking," 0 replied.

She smiled. "Then I'll be Serena Toby."

"No. That would contradict the story I told the target at the tournament. I'm divorced, which shouldn't be hard for me to play. I'm also single, so we're not married." He allowed her to lean into him so they could whisper. "How about brother and sister?"

She shook her head. "With what we get up to, I'm surprised at you." To emphasize this, she decided to press her chest against his arm. "We're not from Arkansa, after all. I don't have the complexion for an Orange Island tan."

He sighed. "Roommates?" Another shake of the head and an increase in the amount of her body she pressed into him. "In a relationship, living together. That's the final offer."

She nodded, and squealed, which he took to mean a yes. "I think I'll call you Kee-chan. Do you mind that, Kee-chan?"

He hated it already and disliked the seductive tone she was using. "Call me whatever you want, 3," he muttered. "Just don't let it distract you from your job."

She increased her hold on his arm and he felt her using the left side of his chest as a pillow. "You're so serious, Kee-chan. What's wrong?"

He groaned. "You say that like you don't know," he replied sarcastically. "I'm…just a little tense with the situation, that's all. Our job here…I like it, but at the same time there's a whole lot going on in my head. You know that."

"Want to talk about it?"

"I thought we were."

"I meant in bed."

Despite her protests, the conversation did not resume after that.

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Sarah Birch loved to draw.

Her Uncle Tracy, who stopped by Petalburg every now and then doing research for Professor Oak had shown her many of his own drawings of people and Pokemon, several of which involved Contest scenes and Nurse Joys. The little girl loved when he came to visit on holidays, when she'd show him some of her best pictures. And Uncle Tracy, with his kind smile, would always take one for himself for safekeeping. At one time, she suspected that he didn't really keep them, but about a year or so ago he had come to Petalburg with a small book full of her pictures especially made for her. The originals, he said, were kept inside his traveling scrapbook.

So, when she got tired of playing with her family or the Pokemon that roamed around the Gym, or when she was home from the Pokemon Trainer's School she attended, she spent a lot of time in her room drawing pictures. Most of the things she drew were funny little doodles from her imagination, like the one that showcased her Uncle Max's crybaby face after losing a Gym battle, which to this date she had never actually seen, or the one that had Uncle Brock surrounded by crowds of women, something she had also never seen before.

Now that she had finished her breakfast and play, she took up her crayons and grabbed a clean sheet of paper to draw a new portrait. Her materials in hand, the little girl sat down in her chair and settled the crayons and paper on her work desk. Before she started, she opened the box of crayons and poured them all out onto the table to decide which she would use, because she was simply weird and organized like that. After a few moments of careful selection, she picked up a crayon that was of a light dark color, and shoved the rest to the side to start drawing. Her hand holding the paper steady, she scribbled a bit of the color onto a corner of the paper to make certain she had chosen the correct one, then began the outline of the portrait figure.

As the outline progressed, it took on the image of what looked like a tall man, mostly because Sarah, though she was loved by her Uncle Tracy, did not quite have his skill. The head was a circle, the body looked like a rectangle with arms attached, and the legs and feet looked like a regular L and an inverted one. The hands looked like paws. She paused briefly, then laughed, pleased with the result. For detail, she gave the man a big nose, mostly because she could never decide on the size of a nose, and bigger noses were funnier than small ones. She drew in some coarse eyebrows that almost connected, and a giant mesh of hair that little a great deal like a mane. The hair covered the majority of the man's upper face, and completely obscured his eyes. With a giggle, she finished the face with a mouth, which was nothing more than a line. It looked like a cross between a smile and a frown.

"There!" she said with satisfaction. "Now for clothes." Sarah put down her grey-black crayon and grabbed a gold one to cover the man's chest with the color. When this was finished, she picked up a pitch-black one and filled everything else in. To complete the picture, she drew a tiny little Pokeball in his left hand with a red crayon. "There we go. That's perfect!"

In fact, she deemed it so perfect that it needed witnesses to its perfection, so the little girl jumped right out of her chair and ran out the door, eager to show the picture to whomever she ran into. She turned and bolted down the stairs, headed for the Gym training fields, where her uncle was sure to be practicing at this hour.


	7. Morph 7

**Morph Seven: In Which There Are Several Meetings of Importance**

0 glanced out the window. The sky was filled with clouds and cast the road ahead in a sheet of dark grey. Serena was sleeping, as she often did, her head draped on his shoulder. He was thankful that her mouth was closed, she tended to drool if left unattended. Even though his partner was asleep, he had to be wary of her hands, which had not stopped their attempts to snuggle her body against his. 0 spotted a sign on the road, and sighed with relief. "Only two miles to go," he murmured and rested his head against the back of his chair.

The mall, which was the simple name that 0 had designated it years ago, was a massive behemoth of modern architecture and as such normally caused him to instantly feel as though his eyes were bleeding, as he preferred more traditional building styles from these new fangled modern constructs brought upon during the time he had spent in the PKM. The color was sleet grey like the sky above, only unlike the sky, which was rather pleasant to look at, the mall itself seemed made solely for the purpose of gaudiness even with its drab color. Columns were draped outside in foreign design and odd-shaped windows displayed the wares on sale within. He did not like it so he looked for the stop that he and Serena would have to disembark at.

He nudged her with his shoulder. "Get up," he whispered. "We're here."

Serena's eyes slowly opened and she looked around. "We're already here? That was quick," she mumbled, then yawned.

0 turned away from the approaching building and checked the clock built into his morpher. "Yep," he said. "And with time to spare, just like I said. Come on, 3. Let's get this over with so you can go back home and sleep while I work." As the bus began to slow down, 0 stood up from his seat and prepared to disembark. After a few moments, Serena did the same, just before the bus came to a complete stop in front of the very busy mall. Several others were eager to get off as well and 0 forced Serena to wait until the roughly half-dozen others got off. He and Serena went last and got off just before the doors shut. 0 held his breath as the smelly bus shot off a bunch of smog before it rolled off.

0, as he was maintaining a cover, allowed Serena to wrap her arm around his. "Keep close, 3," 0 muttered to her. He began to lead them towards the walkway. "This place can get kind of hectic, so you could get hurt." Serena, in response to his genuine concern, scoffed loudly at him.

0 turned to her as they stopped for the light. "Now, Kee-chan," she purred seductively and for good measure trailed her hand just a tiny bit further up his arm, sending what she could only hope to be shivers down his spine. "I'm a big, bad girl. I think I can handle the dangers of a crowded mall." With her other hand, she cupped his ear and lifted herself to just graze it with her lips. "Let the bad girl Serena do her thing, and you do yours? How's that sound?"

"I'd think it sound great, if I could hear you," he retorted. "Retract your tongue from my ear." An elderly man in front of them turned around with an excited look on his face, but the equally terrifying one from 0 convinced him to turn right back around. "We have a meeting today, so would it kill you to be professional? At least in public?"

"You can make jokes?" Serena asked incredulously. "I didn't know you could make jokes." 0's expression did not change, so she stuck her tongue at him. "Fine. I'll behave for now." She lowered her hand, but maintained a very secure grip on his arm.

The light changed to red, so 0 and Serena followed the crowd of shoppers across the street and into the mall. "I'll contact 415 once we're in the mall. We're meeting him at the food court." Serena nodded and 0 opened the door for her. She rushed inside, as her very, very tight business suit must have been very cold, what with the miniskirt and the winter weather. Come to think of it, as he glanced around, he noticed that some people were staring at him oddly, simply because he wasn't bundled up in roughly three layers of coats, but in his plain t-shirt. "Note to self, get some clothes that blend in later, 3," he muttered. "Not today, but get something downloaded into both our morphers to suit Petalburg."

"That's a good idea," she answered in a low voice, not wanting to be heard by anyone nearby. "I can ask Bakaguru about it later, after the mission."

0 chuckled.

"What?" she asked.

0 shook his head. "Nothing. It's just… You think all the time we spend in Orre would make us cold-a-phobic, but we seem to be doing better than most of the civilians."

"You're right, Kee-chan." She giggled. "In fact-" She snuggled up close to him, partially because it was getting a lot more crowded as they attempted to get through the mall store and into the open area, but mostly because it allowed her to make him feel about as uncomfortable as humanly possible.

0 ignored the rapidly expanding pit of irritation welling up inside his stomach and kept a tight grip on her. She reciprocated again and 0 inwardly wondered whether he, in all his travels in his youth, had ever done something to offend any of the Legendary Pokemon he had met to deserve such treatment in these stressful years of his life.

The Petalburg Mall had two levels for shopping, along with a third near the food court that had been converted into a movie theater. The majority of the clothing stores were scattered throughout the mall, as whoever had built it had clearly wanted men to suffer. Food dotted the areas between and 0 thought he caught a few game stores or toy shops. So he had to keep Serena focused forward and away from any store that might entice her interest. As they passed a photo booth, 0 caught a glimpse of a suit store, something he was determined to not allow Serena to notice, so he dragged her as carefully as he could, for he did not wish to arouse her suspicion. A little while later, he saw something that filled his heart with dread: a lingerie store, something equally undesirable, but for another reason altogether from the suit store. But his luck, for once, was on his side, as both stores were to the left, and 0 could block the view with his gigantic body. Serena noticed nothing, far too busy making sure circulation was halted in his arm.

After a few minutes and several backtracks, 0 managed to locate the food court, a massive food buffet, as many food courts commonly are. There were foods from all kinds of places, such as a Johto bakery in the corner, and a Sinnoh café right in the middle, offering free samples of lattes. "See anywhere we could sit?" he asked his partner.

Serena glazed over the area. "I like that very private corner right over there," she answered, and pointed out said private corner. "No security cameras, and only people coming directly towards it could see us."

"We will not sit in that booth," 0 decided, and led her away from her booth of choice to one of his. It was located in a loud section of angry mothers who appeared to be engaged in all-out warfare with their insolent children. 0 sighed, then bent his face to Serena's ear to communicate with his Pokemon. "Pi, hack into the security camera system. Make sure we're covered." Serena, true to her part, giggled and displayed a tint of red across her cheeks as they took their seats in the loud booth.

After a minute, Pi answered. "Done, 0. All access granted without any problems. I'm keeping an eye on you right now. I'll alert you if I see anything weird."

0, to keep himself inconspicuous, grunted his response to the rodent. However, when he sat down at the table, he noticed strangely that Serena had not taken her seat and was shooting daggers from her eyes. "What?" he asked, slightly confused.

She fumed and shook her hair from her eyes. "You are supposed to help a lady to her seat. That's the rule, dummy," she snorted.

0 gaped. "You're a lady?" he asked incredulously. "I didn't know you were a lady!" Pi roared with laughter in the earpiece. "Hang on, hang on." He grabbed Serena before she left and pushed the chair next to him out for her. "Happy?"

She sat down, and proceeded to scoot her chair until their legs were only centimeters apart. "Very much so," she responded with a leer.

0 checked his watch. "He'll be here in a bit," he announced, then settled into his hardback chair to wait.

At precisely ten in the morning, someone did show up to see them. It was difficult to tell, mostly because neither 0 nor Serena had ever heard of 415, and all they had to go on was his incredibly nerdy voice. To their surprise, when 415 approached their table, they noticed one of two things. Firstly, 415 did not have an incredibly nerdy voice, as she was panting from carrying multiple bags of clothing. And secondly, and perhaps most importantly, 415 was not a 'he'. 415 was a young woman, who set down the vast amount of bags clutched in her hands like to many oversized bracelets and took a sea across from them.

Without speaking, 415 began to divide the bags that she had amassed into several smaller groups of shopping bags. 0 couldn't really tell what she looked like, as she was heavily bundled and was wearing a hat and a scarf to match. So, 0 resigned himself to watching 415 finish dividing her new belongings before she finished. He guessed one stack was for clothing and the others were for…whatever else it was women shopped for. He didn't particularly care about it.

"Pardon me, miss," he said, with an innocent tone. She looked up. "Can we help you?"

Serena nodded in agreement. "Yeah," she muttered. "Buzz off. My man and I are kinda in the middle of something here." Then she dug her fingers into 0's inner thigh. 0 jumped and his knees bumped against the table's undersurface. "Right, Kee-chan?"

0 silently swore vengeance when he returned home with Serena. "Y-yeah," he stammered and seethed quietly as he was forced to play the role of boyfriend for the stranger in front of them.

The woman in front of them looked them over for a moment. "Get over yourselves, both of you." She looked at both of them in disgust. "You two are supposed to be the rangers I am tasked with dealing with? Can you not at least act the part?"

Even though he had been suspecting it for a little while, 0 was still quite shocked. "415?" he asked, his mouth wide open. "But you're a-"

She cut him off by ripping off her scarf and hat and raising a gloved hand. "I am aware," she replied with a chuckle. "But the cover identity I have assumed must be maintained." She noticed that he was still rather dumbstruck. "You should see the apartment. Everyone in my complex thinks a big smelly fanboy is living in my rooms. I had Bakaguru construct me something useful when I received this assignment. It greatly resembles him." She took a deep breath, then continued. "Jessie and James helped too. I suppose I should thank you personally for their defection to the PKM." She bowed her head courteously to 0.

0 returned the gesture. "I thought they might like building stuff for us better than the prison sentence they were going to be given after we took down Team Rocket. At least Bakaguru seems to know how to keep them and that Meowth of theirs in line." He laughed to himself, Jessie and James brought back funny memories.

415 nodded in agreement. "Bakaguru's department improved drastically with their acquisition." She lowered her face to the table, and whispered, "Why Giovanni wasted them in the field never ceases to perplex me. Rumors I heard insist they are designing something very big for the ranger program."

"What?" Serena asked.

She shrugged, then leaned back in her chair. "Hence the statement that I heard, not saw, that something was being built," she murmured, and removed several of her layers, allowing both 0 and Serena the chance to see 415 properly. Without all her layers, she looked like a completely different person. Her eyes were shaded with heavy mascara, and her hair was tingled with a dark brownish shade of dye. 415 smirked at the commanding officer, her mouth covered with black lipstick, and leaned to Serena. "Serena Brine, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

415 jerked her thumb at 0. "Is he always this dense, or is it just today?" 0 was speechless, and could not stop from staring. "I thought rangers were supposed to be smart." She turned her attention to 0. "Hey!" she shouted, and snapped her fingers at him. "Up here! Affix your attention to my face."

0 protested. "I wasn't even-" She cut him off with a short hiss. "I'm not going to win this argument, am I?"

"No, you are not," she replied pleasantly. "Here is the information you requested." She bent over to one of her bags and pulled out what appeared to be a small folder. "All the information you will ever need for this job. Everything about Petalburg in one little folder." She handed it to Serena, not trusting 0 with such special information. "Crime rate, a list of recently arrived residents to the area, and a full analysis of every convicted criminal involved with murder, kidnapping, and sexual offences."

0 glanced at the lithe folder with skepticism. "It seems sort of small for all that," he noted. Serena passed him the folder, and he opened it to shift through the few papers inside. "All that is on five pages of research?"

415 shook her head in irritation. "Idiot!" she exclaimed and batted him on the head. "Those pages are the summary. This-" And, as she insulted him, she drew out a small file disk from her coat "-is the information. It turns out my theory was right."

"What are you talking about?" 0 asked.

She sighed. "It has long been my assumption that you rangers are pretty good in battle, but not good for much else. So, instead of making a big paper report, I thought perhaps a computer program with bright colors and pictures might make it easier for you to find information."

0 clenched his hand into a fist. "Why I oughta-"

"-I will take that," Serena interrupted and, to make sure 0 stayed in line, squeezed his thigh to shut him up. "You've got to understand, 415, his specialty is Pokemon combat and offense tactics. He's the dimwit fighter for this mission. I'm from tactical operations and communications. Talk to me."

415 brightened up. "Very well," she replied cheerfully. "Would you like some gum?" From wherever she drew things from, she produced a few sticks of gum.

"I'd like some," 0 said and reached for one.

415 closed her fist. "I do not recall offering you any," she retorted. "Serena Brine?"

"No thank you," Serena answered politely. "I'm fine for now."

415 shrugged. "As you wish," she murmured, and popped one stick into her mouth. Her mouth chewing, she continued. "Now, listen up, because this is classified." Both 0 and Serena leaned in closer to the table. 0 watched her cheeks wrestle with the gum. "My intelligence suggests that someone is after May Birch. My network has confirmed that there is a large, underground organization coming for her."

"What organization?" 0 asked.

"Unsure," she said between chews. "But it is massive. Like Team Rocket, before PKM brought them down. They want her, but I do not know why."

"We had already guessed someone was after her," 0 explained. "We just don't know-"

415 held up her hand to shut the ranger up. "When I want your input, genius, I will ask for it. Serena Brine can do the talking. You just sit in silence." She then smiled, and turned to Serena, leaving 0 to wonder why 415 disliked him. "Moving right along, something came up a few nights ago in my network. Dark Gems. Ever heard of anything like that?"

"Never," Serena answered and shook her head. "What are they?

"Unsure," 415 said. "However, they seem to be connected to the organization attacking May Birch." Her eyes swerved back to 0, who seemed to want to say something. "And if you say 'Look who's talking' I will help neither of you." Wisely, 0 remained stoic and silent. "Anyways, I cannot discuss it right here, but look for it in the file. Review the material back at your safe house." She held out her wrist, and checked a watch. "I must go now."

"So this is all the information?" Serena asked.

415 pulled all her layers back on and donned her hat and scarf. "Yes, Serena Brine. That is all the information I have for you now."

"Thank you, 415," 0 replied. "You've been a great help to us."

415 looked back at him as she grabbed all of her bags and shrugged. "I know I have," she muttered sarcastically and snapped off a salute to him. "From now on, only call me in the event of an emergency. I hate when people call my phone late at night. Especially when I am sleeping." She then vanished back into the swirling crowd of people. 0 and Serena, left behind, sat in silence for a few moments, stunned.

0 and Serena turned very slowly to look at each other. "Wow," 0 muttered. "That… That was in no way anything resembling what I was expecting."

Serena nodded. "No kidding, Kee-chan."

"From her voice, I could have sworn she was going to be someone like Bakaguru." He whistled. "Really good cover."

"Well, now that that's over with," she started and tucked the folder under her other arm, "we should probably head out soon. We still have to discuss some of the issues we were talking about earlier, remember?"

"You mean the surveillance equipment?" he asked.

She shook her head, and squeezed his thigh to provoke his usual reaction: a sharp bang as his knees connected with the underside of the table. "No, silly," she murmured and leaned in to graze his ear with her lips, softly breathing, "I was talking about the bedroom. Personally, I'm more privy to the right side of the bed. You want to take the rest, or should I just make it narrower so we can cuddle?"

0 groaned. "I'm leaving," he grumbled, and began to head for the exit. Serena was on him fast and grabbed his arm. All the while back to the mall's exit, Serena protested strongly against his response, allowing 0 to leave the mall with the grace and dignity often reserved for lepers. He managed to catch glimpses of some of the mothers in the crowd, all of whom would have to field questions from their children after catching snatches of Serena's one-sided conversation with him involving viable options besides the bedroom, options that he never wanted repeated anywhere to anyone.

When he got outside, he felt the cold air on his skin and relished the freedom. Or, at least he did for roughly two seconds, during which time Serena managed to catch up to him and grab his waist with such force that it sucked the air out of 0's lungs.

"Please let go, 3," he ordered, attempting to draw breath. "I beg of you."

"Never!" she squealed with a giggle, obviously not concerned with the level of discomfort she was not only causing 0, but the entire populace surrounding the walkway. If he were in an anime, 0 thought that steam should begin to form around his head from the absolute anger and irritation he was experiencing.

He tried to move her but she wouldn't budge from where she was connected. "Let go of me!" 0 snarled and violently shoved her away from his body. Serena stumbled, unable to hold her balance, and fell flat on her face. In the middle of the street. The angle at which 0 had tossed her caused her to be propelled right into oncoming traffic. 0 looked up and saw that, to his horror, the light was green, with a hoard of cars heading her way. "3!"

"Keean!" she screamed and, to her horror, turned to see a bus streaking towards her. Like a Stantler in the headlights, she froze and shrieked. "Save me!"

The com-link in 0's ear exploded from Pi's warning. "Save her-"

"Got it!" the ranger roared.

_ CRACK._

For a moment, 0 wasn't quite sure what was going on. When he heard the ominous crack, he glanced up, unsure if it had been lightning. The sky, while still cloudy, had no signs of a thunderstorm, so he looked back down. To his shock, everything was moving at a snail's pace. The bus, driving straight in the direction of his partner, was hardly moving. He could see the driver put the brakes on, though it would be too late to save Serena if 0 didn't intervene. Serena herself was upright, trying desperately to run back to 0, but she was moving as though trapped in molasses. 0 looked around and, to his shock, no one was even breathing. No one was moving. No one, save him.

"Pi?" 0 called out into the earpiece. There was no answer. "Pi!"

_ Alright, let's just go with this._ 0 started to run directly for Serena. The cars got slower and slower, and he could swear that Serena's expression was slowly trying to change from fear to disbelief. He could see the air around him part to allow him to speed up. His ears were filled with the lengthy scream from Serena's mouth and an odd roaring that was coming from inside his body. He grabbed her just as the bus' headlights were about to smash into her. She swung into his arms as 0 burst towards the other side of the street.

_ CRACK!_

The world reverted to its normal speed the moment after the second crack echoed through their ears. 0 managed to reach the curb, and stopped just on the pavement. 0 looked around, but nobody was focused on him, but rather what he was clutching rather protectively in his grasp. Serena hadn't even noticed that her petite body was being cradled by 0's powerful arms, she was too interested in finding out why she was no longer running towards safety. "3," 0 muttered to his partner and she looked up. "A-are you alright?" He felt something red spread across his face and the pit in his stomach lurched awkwardly.

Serena gulped, but smiled as she realized exactly where she was and snuggled into his chest. "Y-yes, Kee-chan," she stammered, apparently quite flustered. "W-what was that thing you did?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know," he muttered. "I just started running."

"Let's just get out of here," she murmured. "People are staring." 0 looked around and saw that she was correct. A couple of elderly gentlemen were hollering their approval from across the street. A few mothers were, once again, expressing disapproval, though 0 thought he saw a girlfriend nudge her gentleman with a bit of jealousy. 0 nodded and lowered her gently to the ground.

"You're sure you're okay?"

She just grabbed his arm again. "I'd be more worried about you, Kee-chan. Whatever that was, it wasn't something I've ever seen before. It was like…"

0's communicator flared to life. "It was like Agility, wasn't it?" Pi asked.

"Sure seemed like it. We were moving pretty fast, Pi," 0 answered. "But how did we manage to pull that off?"

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"You sure you're okay with doing this?"

0 glanced back at his partner, who was already manning her position in front of the window, a pair of high-tech binoculars clutched in her hands. "Not a problem," he replied with a thumb's up. "I'll be back before you know it. Just make sure you cover us."

Serena nodded, so 0 shut the door behind him and headed up to the roof. "Pi, make sure you cover me too," 0 added to his earpiece. "I'm not just relying on 3 for this one, right buddy?"

"No way I let Serena have all the fun, 0," Pi chirped in helpfully. "You're approaching the doorway to the rooftop now." Sure enough, 0 reached the top step and opened the door to the night's air. It was chilly and a breeze surrounded him. "Good thing you wore the jacket, right?"

0 nodded. "Right." His PKM jacket stood out in the civilian world, but hopefully its bright gold insignia wouldn't be noticed by too many. It was late and the majority of Petalburg had retired to bed long before he had decided to venture out into the night. He approached the railing that protected him from falling to a most gruesome and painful death on the street several floors below, lifting up one of his boots to perch on its metal. He looked into the streets below, and raised his right hand to his earpiece. "Nothing's moving in the streets. Can I get a confirmation from your end, 3?"

His partner's voice crackled in the receiver. "Everything's fine from my angle, 0. My guess is the street's been quiet for over an hour." 0 glanced at his morpher, which informed him it was indeed a much later time than most people would care to stay up for. "No movements by my radar and all the lights in the apartments around us have been extinguished. You are clear to morph."

The Golden Ranger felt a slight twinge of uneasiness pass through his stomach. "3, are you sure we don't have any stealth gear of some sort in those suitcases of yours?" he asked hesitantly. "I'm not sure if I feel comfortable with doing this even in ranger mode."

Serena's laugh was broadcasted loud and clear to him. "Sorry, 0," she apologized, every syllable dripping with sarcasm. "I must have been so busy putting so much surveillance equipment into the cases, plus my wardrobe, that I plum forgot to bring you a little spandex jumpsuit for you to grease your way into." 0 sighed, but his barely-noticeable objection did little to curb Serena's banter. "I must have just assumed that, because you have the most powerful ranger uniform in the entire PKM, you could maybe use that to break into someone's house and plant surveillance equipment." He heard a few strokes of a keyboard. "Was I mistaken? Should I have packed you a little uniform that even a dwarf in a barrel of butter couldn't have squeezed into?"

"You are getting reprimands when I get back, 3," 0 growled.

She cooed into his earpiece. "Sounds good to me," she moaned. "I love it when you dominate. Reprimand me! Reprimand me! I've been such a naughty little subordinate…"

0 was thankful she trailed off. "Is there a particular reason you can't do this?"

He heard her slap her forehead. "Because, my little superior, there are colors that don't work well in shadows. And you're talking to the White Ranger. Your golden spandex is perfect, because it only reflects light. It'll blend right in. Now mush! The moon's about to disappear behind the clouds. You won't get a better shot at this."

0 looked up and noticed that the moon was indeed fading behind a cloud cover. "Roger," he confirmed, and used his left hand to press the little red activation button on his morpher. "_Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power_!" 0 made a mental note to reprimand himself for being forced to use such a lame call signal for his voice confirmation while the morpher activated. His civilian clothes and his jacket were exchanged in a brilliant flash of yellow light for the Kevlar-like bulk of the Golden Ranger uniform. 0 lowered his face, and the view showed the Gym. "Pi, scan for all moving persons inside the Petalburg Gym, and display their coordinates in real-time. 3, keep a watch for anyone coming by." Oddly, when he spoke, he noticed a change in his voice tone.

"Got it," the Pokemon answered. "Scan shows five humans and multiple Pokemon. Displaying members of the Birch family." In moments, five heat signatures appeared on screen, combined with the regular visor display. "All of them are upstairs in the sleeping quarters of the Gym. Now adding the Pokemon." The visor showed at least ten Pokemon on the lowest level of the Gym.

"Judging from the heartbeat rhythms I'm getting, I'm sure everyone's asleep, 0," Serena chimed in. "You're still clear street-wise."

"Pi, it's getting dark. Switch me to night vision." A moment later, his standard vision changed to shades of green. "Good. 3, how should I get over there?" he asked.

He heard more typing. "Pi," Serena said, "convert primary energy in the ranger suit from all-around to feet. It'll allow 0 to jump across the street and it'll minimize the shock absorption when he lands. I think that'll take care of it, seeing as 0's version of the ranger uniform doesn't come with flying capabilities."

"Okay," the mouse replied. 0 noticed an energy gauge on the lower left of his visor fluctuating. "All done. I didn't know I could even do something like that."

"That suit has a lot of different functions available. Must be because of its design," Serena noted. "It has a higher amount of power stored in."

"Can we just go, if you haven't finished the science lecture?" 0 asked impatiently. "Sooner or later someone's going to notice someone cosplaying up here. I need to get out of sight while the moon's still covered."

"Oh! Yes, you're okay to jump."

"Best news I've heard all day," he retorted with sarcasm. 0 crouched, as he would for any other jump, only when he released he soared forward across the street. For a moment, he was worried that he had put too much force into the leap, and would overshoot the Gym's roof. Fortunately, he had not, and Pi's modifications managed to pay off. "Pi, brace for landing! Cushion my impact so it won't make any noise!"

"I'm on it!"

0 landed smoothly, with just a small scratch sound made thanks to the fact that he rolled upon landing, rather than smashing down with both feet into the roof. "I'm here," 0 reported and looked back to Serena in the apartment now across the street. "Disable all their security systems. I don't want an alarm buzzing me." He didn't want to wake someone and disturb their sleep, especially when what he was doing was technically illegal. "You done?"

The keyboard strokes ended moments later. "All finished," Serena announced. "Blueprints of the Gym have been downloaded, and are being loaded into the uniform's processor. Pi, make sure 0 doesn't take any wrong turns."

"I'll try," Pi replied. "0, open the trapdoor three feet to your left and proceed down the stairs to the second floor."

"I already knew that, Pi," 0 muttered. "I used to be a part of this family, remember? I think I know how to get in." He looked down and grabbed the knob on the door. He opened it gently, as it creaked a little when he started to pull. He took a deep breath when no alarm sounded and began his descend into enemy territory. As soon as he was inside he shut the door, not wanting to alert the family to a strange new gust of cold air in their warm home. He walked down a small, narrow flight of stairs and into the second floor living quarters of the Birch family. In his ears, he could hear an odd typing from Serena's keyboard.

"Now running on silent mode," Serena declared. The visor changed again, adding a small X at the top of the screen. "It's safe to talk now."

0 looked up, and stopped just before he left the staircase. "Hang on, 3. What's silent mode?" he asked. He also noticed that his voice had returned to normal.

He heard a sigh. "It basically mutes you to the outside world," Serena explained. "When rangers go into battle, their voices are altered by a speaker built into the lower section of the helmet. That's why your voice was sounding so mechanical. It's part of the disguise. Silent mode allows us to freely communicate in areas where noise sensors are. I'm just doing it so we can talk freely without waking the family."

"Oh," 0 said. "Good idea."

He could practically see Serena smirk on the other side of the communicator. "Don't forget, 0," she replied, and he could also see her wagging her finger, "just because you're the commanding officer for this mission doesn't make you the best ranger. I'm more seasoned with PKM equipment, after all. Pi isn't ready to use all the functions that it can access, and neither are you. Just deploy the cameras, and let me worry about the rest, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," he murmured. "Pi, transfer me one capsule. I want to get this over with as quickly as possible. I don't feel comfortable being back here." The Pokemon squeaked its confirmation, and 0 glanced in his hand to see a dull red glow in the palm of his glove. The tiny capsule formed, sort of how the sword had in his battle, and fully materialized with no problems. "I'm deploying the micro cameras. Pi, 3, make sure you get good angles so we can see everything we need."

"Not to worry, 0. Deploy them." With the Pikachu's assurance, 0 took a deep breath before he held out the capsule and pushed the trigger down for its release. The capsule burst noiselessly in his palm and transformed into a cloud of microscopic cameras that flooded the air of the second floor. "Now guiding cameras." The cloud slowly dispersed, scattering to the corners of the hallway and into the cracks of the lightly opened doors of the Birch family bedrooms. 0 remained motionless before Pi's voice penetrated the silence in his helmet. "First wave complete," it confirmed. "Proceed down to the first floor and repeat at the foot of the stairs. Shouldn't be too bad."

"3, where's the camera function on this suit?" 0 asked.

"There isn't one," she said. "Camera testing shows one hundred percent visibility on the second floor. I can't show them to you right now because it would overload the uniform's system, but they're good. Now head for the first floor and come back home. Make sure those Pokemon don't catch you, otherwise there's going to be trouble."

"I figured as much," he answered. The doors at the end of the hall were ajar, but he ignored them for the time being, focusing on avoiding the extremely creaky stair located near the middle. Treading softly, he successfully reached the bottom, which led him into the kitchen. He glanced to his left and saw the Gym. The heart signatures on his visor still indicated he hadn't woken anything. "Next capsule. Now." Pi materialized the capsule and 0 released it just as he had the first.

"Here we go," Serena grunted and the cloud began to swirl around and spread throughout into rooms that 0 had seen before, but didn't wish to revisit. "I think that covers everything. Head back to the roof and deploy a final capsule outside so we can get all the viewpoints we can, and jump back to our apartment building. Understand?"

"Understood. I'm going," he answered. He returned to the second floor. "Wait… Hang on for a sec." Curiosity overwhelming him, he tried to remember who's door it was on the left side of the hallway that had been left slightly ajar.

"0, you need to get out of there now!" Serena hissed. "What if someone sees you?" 0 didn't seem to notice her concern and quietly opened the door just a slight bit to expose the bed. "Are you out of your mind?"

"How much time do you think would be safe to check a few things?" he asked.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to check on some old friends," he answered. "Deactivate silent mode. Keep her from overriding, Pi." The X at the bottom of his visor vanished, and 0 grinned underneath his helmet. The Golden Ranger, keeping his breathing to a lithe hissing of mechanical monotone, stepped towards his former wife's bed. From the slight breathing he could detect from her side, he guessed she was still safely asleep.

After three years, he still thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. Instead of a woman, it was as though a piece of art slept happily before him. She had a loveliness that seemed unearthly to him and, like a piece of art, he knew would never be something to be touched by him. Her curly auburn locks were strewn across her sleeping face, her eyelids concealed the azure he had once loved to gaze into for hours on end. He looked down her body and noticed that she was wearing very little for a night like this: just a tank top and some sleep pants. Her arms had trails of goose bumps running all over. Of course, he saw this through the night vision. Her hair was a sea of green to him, but he still found it beautiful nonetheless. He raised his hand to his chest and found that through the uniform his heart was throbbing faster than he could remember it ever doing.

Suddenly, she moved, and tossed herself to the side unexpectedly. 0 had already moved deep into the shadows, even though the curtains were drawn inside the room and darkness shrouded him safely. He could not wait any longer so, as an afterthought, he returned to her bedside and drew her blankets up for her to warm herself. She snuggled up inside the bundle and 0 was forced to abandon the room before his emotions got the better of him and he spoke. He heard a slight murmur of sleep-talk before he closed the door, and his heart raced.

0 could practically see Serena sitting with rage at her laptop, unable to stop him. He almost laughed, but stopped himself before a giggle escaped his lips. He still had one more stop to make before he left, one that would be worth all the trouble that he had had to perform that evening. He walked across the hallway to the second door and pushed it open, thanking his lucky stars that neither Serena nor Pi could do anything to stop him.

The room he found himself in had changed considerably from the last time he had come into it. 0 looked at the corner of the room and saw a small drawing desk that now occupied where the baby crib had once been stationed. The wallpaper, however, was intact, with plenty of happy Pokemon designs that he himself had picked out a long time ago. He touched the surface of the wall and hoped it still had the warm feeling he could not detect through his ranger uniform. Various toys were scattered amidst the rug-covered floor, so he had to be careful not to step on any of them. Finally, only when he had viewed the pictures that surrounded the girl's desk and memorized them, he cast his gaze onto the tiny little bed in the middle of the room. Inside the bed, having crawled into the many blankets that 0 was certain her mother had made her use, was a little girl that 0 hardly recognized from the last time he had had the chance to see her. Three years had apparently changed more than him, he thought, as he looked at Sarah Birch.

His daughter was far bigger than when she was two, as was to be expected. Her mother had allowed Sarah to grow out her hair from the last time he had seen her close up like this, it was in two little pigtails. He looked at them and knew where their color had come from. The eyes were closed, but 0 knew where those had come from too. He did not touch her, but was very glad that the visor that he wore was hiding his face and was inhibiting the display of his emotions. His face felt very hot and, if he hadn't known for a fact that he couldn't, he was certain that he might have been crying.

"Sarah…" he whispered hoarsely. He cursed himself afterwards for his clumsiness, he hadn't meant to speak at all! He looked at the little girl, she was still asleep, or so his visor's readings said. He had to leave, so he stood up from the bed and, taking one of the pictures for himself, escaped the daughter's room as quickly as he was able to and practically did all but run to the trapdoor on the roof.

"Okay, I'm ready to come back," 0 stated mechanically and made sure he had a good grip on the paper before he jumped up back to the apartment complex. He landed without comment, he figured Pi and Serena could take care of the mechanics of the uniform. "Power down." The order was instantaneous and the suit surrounding him disappeared in another bright flash of golden light. 0 sniffed the fresh air of the cold night, the uniform had toxin-free pumps that, while destroying any deadly chemicals in the air, also took away the freshness. "I'll be in soon. Give me the last capsule." As he headed for the door, the third and final capsule materialized in his hand. He clicked the top, just as he had with the others, only this time he threw it in the direction of the Gym. Not bothering to see the cloud disperse, 0 shut the door to the outside world and headed back home.

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When 0 reached the apartment, he opened and closed the door without comment. He glanced at Serena's curious face once, then ignored her as he tossed his set of keys in her general direction. "Mission complete," 0 announced without any interest whatsoever. "All the cameras are in place. We get what we need?" Before Serena could reply, 0 had already started for the fridge, where a cold beer was waiting for him to drown his sorrows in its long neck.

Serena waited for him to crack open the bottle, using the table as an opener, before she spoke. "Are you okay?" she asked as he sat down and consumed roughly half the bottle in one swig. She set her laptop aside and scooted over to her cushion on the other side of the table. Something felt wrong to her and she was pretty sure she knew what it was. 0 was normally in one of two moods: cheerful or gloomy, and his current state suggested the latter. "Did something happen while you were with Sarah?"

0 took another sip, but nodded into his bottle. "Sort of," he mumbled. "I mean, I saw her at the Contest, but not up close like tonight. If you had a two-year-old and, suddenly, she sprouted into a five-year-old before your very eyes, you'd think it was strange too." He hung his face so she could only see his lips quiver as he spoke. "I had to break into her house in my ranger gear to see my daughter. I can't just walk up to the house and ask to see her. I can't even…" He stopped and drank again. "I haven't seen her up close like that for years, 3." His mouth twitched, and he looked up at her. He wanted to say more, but halted and finished the rest of his bottle. He then got up for another and returned to his cushion at the table.

Serena tilted her head so her emerald eyes shined through her ivory locks. "0, you're starting to worry me," she said and took the hand that wasn't holding the bottle into hers. "Are you sure everything's fine?"

In response, 0 slammed the bottle's top against the hard edge of the table, releasing the cap with a satisfying sizzling noise. "Yeah, 3," he retorted and started drinking again. "I've never felt better. Maybe I should run for mayor."

Serena noticed his hands were shaking. "Poor baby," she cooed. He wasn't resisting her holding his hand, so she decided to be a bit bolder. She slowly began to edge herself around the table until she was sitting next to him. She released his hand and, as gently as she could, wrapped her arms as far as they would go around his chest, circling her hands on his shoulders. "It's okay." She pressed her face against his chest. "I know you won't cry, but it's okay." Suddenly, for a strange reason, she noticed the size difference between herself and her partner. She felt his strong heartbeat thump against her cheek, and realized with a warm sensation that her heart matched the rhythm. He didn't resist her, he was clearly too upset to. _I could have him right now, and he would do nothing to stop me_.

But she didn't. Instead, she took his bottle from him and set it aside on the table. "Hey," she said and looked up at his savage face. "I'm always going to be here for you, okay? I promise it'll be all right." She gulped. "That you'll be all right."

0 didn't know what to say to that. This wasn't the Serena that he had spent the majority of his PKM career avoiding the advances of. His jaw was locked, for he was immersed in deep psychological battle against himself. Nothing wet dripped down his cheeks, but eventually his heartbeat calmed down. "T-Thanks, 3," he mumbled, after a few minutes of quiet. "I needed that. Thanks." He hugged her gently, not wanting to crush her, and also not wanting her to misinterpret his gesture. "I'm glad you're my friend."

"It's nothing, 0, really," she stammered when he let her go. "Come on, let's get Pi hooked up into the camera system. It'll make lookout duty all kinds of easier." She held out her hand invitingly.

He took it with a smile. "Sure. How?"

She picked up her laptop and placed it onto the table. "We just need to jack Pi into the circuits so it can control the cameras. It'll help us because we won't have to handle the hassle of constantly keeping an eye on May. Think you can handle that, big guy?"

"It doesn't sound like something I can't handle," it replied in 0's earpiece. "Hook me up."

0 relayed the message. Serena nodded and brought out a wire that she connected to her monitor. "Here," she said and extended her arm. "Give me your morpher so I can perform the linkup." 0 gave her his wrist and she hooked them up. "Ready, Pi?"

The screen flashed briefly and Pi's form appeared in the computer. "I'm in," it confirmed. "Download it into the morpher." Serena typed in a few things into the keyboard, 0 didn't really notice what, but assumed they had something to do with the download. A moment later, a bar streaked across the bottom of the screen. "Download complete. I have access to all the cameras. Every one of them is functioning." It smiled and ran around in a circle. "Mission accomplished!"


	8. Morph 8

**Morph Eight: Serena's First Mission**

"…And that's what happened, Bakaguru," 0 explained into the laptop's screen. Inside the PKM Research and Development Sector, the engineer mused thoughtfully at the information he had been presented with, softly sipping on tea from a steamy mug on his desk. "It was…it was like nothing I've ever felt before. For what felt like eternity, time stopped just long enough for me to save 3."

Bakaguru wrinkled his acne-encrusted brow, and wiped his lips on his lab coat. "That's very abnormal, Golden Boy. I've never heard of something like this before. A ranger using a Pokemon ability? It's…unheard of." He scratched his chin. "Wait a moment," he answered. "It might be possible that you didn't stop time, but you just tapped into the fight or flight response."

"The flight or flight response?" 0 asked. "Never heard of it. What does it do?"

Bakaguru sighed and the flops of his cheeks swayed with his head. "The fight or flight response is a mechanism inside our nervous system. But, because you are not the smart ranger, I shall inform you of what it means via colorful, easy words."

"Shut up," the ranger retorted.

"I doubt you want that," Bakaguru countered. "Anyway, the fight or flight response is a sort of pumping up for fighting or running away. The body fills with adrenaline, and you perform one of those two reactions. You know how you hear of men being able to tear off jammed seat belts to save loved ones, or how a woman can remove chunks of rubble from a collapsed building that even a professional bodybuilder would find difficulty in displacing? The concept is the same." Having finished his scientific explanation, Bakaguru proceeded to enjoy yet another sip of his tea. "However, based on what you have explained to me, I do not believe this to be the case."

0 rubbed his forehead, and uttered a groan. "I figured," he replied. "But why'd you have to keep up with the boring science stuff if you knew that wasn't what was going on." 0 leaned into the screen. "Spill it. Is something wrong with me and Pi?"

Bakaguru shook his jelly head, his greasy hair swinging. "No. I cannot see any problem with your present status. However… I must still do further research on this phenomenon. Tell me, have you managed to duplicate the effect again?"

"Well…" 0 grinned. "Not really. I mean, it did only happen yesterday, and a lot of stuff happened yesterday. Plus, I don't think 3 is all that eager to go running in front of a bus again on the off-chance that it might work," the ranger explained. "Pi's pretty sure we used Agility, but it might be something else. I'll let you know if it happens again."

"Very good then," Bakaguru murmured. "Well, from what I can tell so far, I might be able to give you a hypothesis on what happened." Bakaguru reached for his tea, and took a slight draught before continuing. "Now, it is my understanding that you and your ranger spirit, the Pikachu, have a very, very close bond, correct?"

"That's right," 0 replied. "Pi and I have been tight for a very long time."

Bakaguru widened his smile. "Well, that might be the key," he said. "You see, when PKM Ranger status is reassigned to a new agent, that new agent will only have access to a uniform created with the ranger spirit and the morpher. In all the time we have had ranger technology, we have only had one exception, and that is you and your ranger spirit. Unlike most rangers, who are only capable of utilizing the standard equipment, you both were capable of manifesting a melee weapon immediately. Without a single download program installed from my labs. I think this can only mean one of two things, Gold."

0 arched his brow. "What are those?" he asked.

Bakaguru paused to adjust his eyeglasses. "Hypothesis one: the prior Golden Ranger, your predecessor, chose willingly to commit seppuku. Your positioning at the Contest was not accidental and, when he died, he transferred a previously unknown installed weapon in the event you would ever require it. Does that make any sense to you?" he asked.

"Actually, that does kind of make sense," 0 answered. "When I was an agent, all the old guy would ever do was bust my chops about my so-called destiny. Every single time I saw the guy he reminded me that his job would be mine one day. To be honest, it sort of got annoying after a while. But what's the second option, Bakaguru?"

At this, Bakaguru's eyes grew rather dim. "I am afraid the second option is worse, Gold. My second hypothesis is that your morpher is malfunctioning due to the strength of your bond with your ranger spirit. PKM agents to not usually utilize Pokemon, you are one of the few specialists. As a result, rangers are normally assigned a Pokemon to work with when they are promoted to the position. However, you are the exception. You and Serena. Thus, because of the strength of your bond, the Pokemon's abilities might be fusing with your DNA."

0 was still confused. "What does that mean?"

The engineer groaned with irritation. Instead of answering, Bakaguru lifted his cup and finished what remained of his tea. "Why must you be so unintelligent? All of you rangers, excluding Serena, are completely incompetent in thought processes!" He leaned into the screen. "It means, buffoon, that because of your strong bond with your Pokemon, the ranger spirit's abilities might be crossing over to you, such as the rather unique ability to move faster than the blink of an eye. And, at the same time, you are merging with your ranger spirit, which allowed it to form a weapon specifically calibrated for you without any need for downloading. Can I be any more clear, or do you require a picture book?"

"Okay, okay. I got the message," 0 retorted. "Why is it everyone feels the need to rip on me for doing the slightest thing wrong. I'm new to being a ranger, remember?"

"Because, Gold," Bakaguru explained, "you, despite your intensely novice experience, are also the highest ranking PKM Ranger. You are Agent 0, and with that comes a little thing called responsibility. You are supposed to know how your morpher works and you don't. You are supposed to lead your team yet Serena seems to be doing everything for you. By the way, I thought that I should mention that you did pathetically bad last night. I watched the tapes. I have not seen such a horrid demonstration of a ranger's abilities since you and Serena were assigned to retrieve 2 and 4 four years ago."

"Hey!" 0 barked. "We did the best we could in that situation. And if I recall, you didn't foresee what would happen either. You share as much blame as we do."

Bakaguru coughed loudly, though 0 knew he would never admit any fault occurred on his part for any reason. "Anyway, Gold, returning to our original point. I will continue research on your condition to determine its causes. Contact me immediately if there are any further developments. Especially in civilian form. The mere fact that you were capable of tapping into your Ranger Spirit's abilities is immensely interesting. Good day." The screen flickered for a moment, then Bakaguru's ugly face distorted into static, then Serena's screen saver. Briefly, 0 considered deleting the obnoxious photo she had of both of them, then decided it would be a better use of his time to look through 415's information.

0 opened the channel that connected him to Pi. "Anything interesting today?" the ranger asked, retrieving the disk from the folder's insides.

"As far as I can see, everything's quiet at casa de Birch, 0," the mouse reported cheerfully. "The family's up, and nothing suspicious is going on."

"Have you managed to find out anything about yesterday?" 0 asked.

0 mentally pictured Pi shaking its head. "I've been checking the morpher's database all day. So far, there are no irregularities in the system. No extra downloads. There's nothing wrong with it. But, about yesterday, I honestly can't even remember what happened. I just started shouting then…well, nothing. I heard a big crack, and that was kind of it."

"Do you think there was some kind of problem with what happened when I digitized you into the morpher?" he asked. "I already hate that we had to do that to you. I don't want to screw anything else up."

"Don't worry about it, 0," it said happily. "Nothing's gone wrong so far. So I'm a ranger spirit and you're a ranger. So what? I remember when you used to love the idea of being one of the spandexes."

0 plugged the computer disk into the laptop and waited for the computer to start loading the file. "That was a really long time ago, Pi," he muttered. The laptop opened the file which, to 0's surprise, had a password encryption. "Hey, Pi? Do you have any idea of 415 mentioned a password anywhere." He grabbed the loose folder and rifted through a few pages. "Just great. All this info and no way to get at it. I swear, the whole of PKM is starting to get on my nerves."

"You just don't have the best luck with women, 0," it replied sympathetically. "Worse than Brock, even. First May, then Serena, and now 415. Even Bakaguru seems to have it in for you. What have you done to deserve such terrible misfortune?"

"I've done something to some Legendary Pokemon that caused them to despise me and doom my relationships with women for the rest of my life," 0 muttered dismally.

"Yep!" Pi replied cheerfully.

At that very moment, a giant moan issued from the sleeping area Serena was currently occupying. "Well, the Snorlax is up," 0 muttered. "There's no way I'm going to be able to get any work done now. The eating machine wants breakfast." Sighing, the ranger rose from the table to rouse his partner with a microwave bento.

"Hey, 0?"

"Yeah?" 0 stuck the platter in the microwave and started to nuke it.

"Well…what's your beef with Serena anyway? So she likes you. It's not like that's a crime."

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**_...Four Years Ago..._**

The forests of west Kanto are quite beautiful, especially just outside the small community of Pallet Town. You could see Pokemon everywhere, from the bugs that crawled across the earth to the bird Pokemon that soared through the trees. Amid all this, in a tiny clearing just outside the town, was a small cottage. It looked like something out of Norman Rockwell. Two storey, painted off-white with a slanted red roof, and a small black chimney poking out of the top. A picket fence separated a small garden of flowers and vegetables from the outside forest, along with what appeared to be a small plastic child house colored yellow. It was outside this house that a family was saying goodbye to one another. The man, clearly distinguished as the one departing, held a small briefcase in one of his hands. The other was wrapped firmly around his wife's thin waistline.

His wife, however, did not seem to mind the unnecessary attention, as she was blushing furiously. Wrapped in her arms was a small bundle with a tiny face protruding. The husband's left hand glittered with the tiniest bit of gold around his ring finger as he kissed her goodbye one last time.

"I promise, honey," he murmured into her ear, "it's just going to be for a couple of days. Just two days out kicking butt, and I'll be right back." The red did not die across his wife's face, if anything it intensified, as he continued to whisper exactly what he was planning on returning to.

"Yeah, right," she grumbled. "That is never going to happen. Not while Sarah's in the house."

"My mother can baby-sit one night," he countered and scooped both his wife and his daughter into his arms, and pecked the blushing woman's lips ever so gently. "It'll be fun, I promise. You'll love it."

If it were possible, he could have sworn he saw steam erupt from her ears. "Let me down this instant!" she ordered between giggles. He, albeit unwillingly, complied and set her down on the grass. "Just be glad we live out here, where no one can see when you do stupid displays like this. If you ever pulled this kind of stuff in the city, I'd die of embarrassment."

His grin grew wider and she giggled furiously. "Trust me, May. If we lived in the city, I'd do so much more…" He allowed May's reddened face to complete his sentence and chuckled. "Anyways, I'll make this up to you when I get back from this tournament. I'll take you out to that restaurant you love." A loud squeak issued, actually more like a whine, from the bundle wrapped in May's arms. Defiantly, against her mother's cooing for quiet, little Sarah poked her tiny head out into the world and butted her face in the direction of her father. "Give her here," he said and took the baby girl into his arms.

He smiled at the girl, and she smiled back, happy to be with her daddy. "Don't worry, baby Sarah. Daddy will be back before you know it. I promise." The girl squeaked in happiness as he bent down to kiss her brow, and she giggled. She seemed a little disappointed when he handed her back to her mother, but perked up again when May started tickling her stomach to induce laughter. "You two be good, okay? Sarah, behave for Mommy."

May cuddled the baby. "Don't worry about a thing, tough guy. Max should be stopping through tomorrow on his Kanto run. He'll be sorry he missed you on the way."

He shrugged. "Sucks to be him," he countered and chuckled. "Eh, I can train him some other time. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort for me to whip his butt in a match."

"Be nice to my brother," she retorted and feigned fuming.

"Yeah, yeah…" He reached under his shirt for his belt or, more specifically, what was on his belt. The small Pokeball unclipped easily from its holster. "I'll take Z to get to my plane, and I should arrive sometime tonight. I'll call you guys when I get there." He clicked the trigger button on the middle of the sphere. "Z, let's get going!" he shouted and tossed the ball into the clearing outside the picket fence. It exploded with red light and a giant, orange lizard emerged from the flash of red energy. It atomized and reformed into one of his most powerful Pokemon, and primary mode of transportation, Charizard. Easily twelve feet tall and significantly larger than the average Charizard, Z roared at its liberation from its Pokeball and beat its great, leathery wings. It did this only for a moment however, as it glanced down and noticed that Sarah was there, and quieted down quickly. It growled cheerfully at the family and Sarah giggled at its fearsome face.

"Ready to go, big guy?" the trainer asked his Pokemon. Z nodded its agreement and lowered its body to allow him to mount its back. The trainer put his fingers to his mouth and whistled for the second Pokemon he had with him, and his dearest friend. "Pi, let's get out of here! We gotta get rolling!"

In response, a small pet-like door at the foot of the house's door burst open and a vibrant yellow mouse stampeded in the direction of its best friend. The Pikachu launched itself, as it was accustomed to doing, and landed perfectly onto the man's left shoulder. He saluted his wife and his daughter one last time before he jumped up onto Z's back. The Charizard, used to much heavier weights, didn't seem to mind. Pi jumped up and latched onto its pointy head, securing itself by digging its little paws into Z's skull as gently as it could. Z grumbled with a little annoyance but ignored it.

"Kick it, Z!" the trainer shouted. In response, Z roared, smoke belching from its nostrils. Flapping its powerful wings, the muscular creature lifted from the ground in a manner very similar to a helicopter. He waved goodbye to his family until Z started to move, upon which he grabbed the Charizard's neck for dear life. Z roared one last time then shot off into the distance in a massive burst of speed.

The wind blew through his raven hair as everything began to transform into a giant blur. The trainer opened his briefcase, his thighs keeping a tight grip on Z's midsection. Inside the suitcase were a pair of goggles and what appeared to be a work jacket, both of which he retrieved. He put on the rough jacket to shield himself from the cold air from Z's speed and he put on the goggles to make sure that his eyes weren't hit by something in mid-flight.

"Hey, Z!" he shouted to the Charizard. The Pokemon acknowledged that it heard him with a quick roar. "We're meeting the chopper at the far south part of the forest, by the ocean! Take us down there!" In response, Z roared its confirmation and sped off even faster than before. In what seemed like no time at all, the trainer spied the black helicopter waiting for him at the outskirts of the forest. Z began to circle around and landed on the ground right next to the helicopter.

Next to the machine, two pilots waited dressed in black Kevlar, which couldn't have been comfortable in the warm weather. Both snapped off a salute as he approached and he returned it. "Agent 1076 reporting in," he announced. "Z can fly ahead and keep lookout. Pi will stay with us. Got it?" In response, the Charizard swept up its wings and propelled itself into the sky. 1076, along with Pi, boarded the helicopter with the two pilots, who started takeoff procedures immediately. 1076 chuckled as his Charizard sped off, clearly intent on showing up the pilots' skills.

"How we doing, guys?" 1076 asked. "Pass me those headphones. I hate loud takeoffs." One of the guys must have heard him, because he was passed a com-headphone immediately. He grabbed the microphone built into the headset. "PKM, this is Agent 1076. I've been picked up, and we're heading back for home. My Charizard is accompanying us, you'll spot it before you see the chopper. Z's always been faster then most of PKM's gear." The pilots didn't seem to like the comment, but Pi squeaked its approval. Z soon began an orange speck in the distance as it began to pick up speed and 1076 could tell that the pilots were attempting to keep up with the giant Charizard. It was actually kind of fun, considering how boring most chopper rides with PKM pilots were. In next to no time, though it was probably several hours, 1076 could see the skylines of the Orre desert, the hideaway for his secret organization and the real reason for his business trip.

"This is Poke 226," one of the pilots stated into his communicator. "We're almost home. Can you see the Charizard?"

The radio crackled its response. "Roger. We're flagging down the Pokemon. We've picked you up on the radar, you're about two kilometers away from the target landing point. Over and out."

"Got it," the second pilot replied and turned to 1076. "Welcome home, sir."

The agent grinned and shook his head. "I'll be back home when this is over with. I've gotta think of something to get my baby girl as a present." Sure enough, within a few minutes, he caught site of the headquarters, which appeared to the untrained eye to be a small-time cantina. As always, it has its closed sign on the door and there wasn't anyone nearby, so it was child's play to land the chopper in the concealed area behind the cantina.

"Sealed and confirmed. Poke 226, welcome home," said the mechanized voice once they had landed. 1076, along with Pi, were the first out of the transport vehicle.

Agent 1076 looked exactly like the posters of him portrayed him as. Wild, raven colored hair streamed across his face while his goggles shielded his eyes from the sands and winds of the Orre desert. His rough jacket, a PKM model with his rank sewn on the shoulders, was black with red trimmings, denoting his status as one of the top standard agents of PKM. 1076 retrieved Z's Pokeball and then turned over to the lizard. "Good work," he said to the Charizard. "We didn't even stand a chance, buddy." He clicked the trigger button on the ball and pointed it to the lizard. Z roared with pride one final time before it was digitized into red light and returned to its Pokeball to rest.

"So, let's go see 0, right Pi?" he asked the Pikachu. Pi nodded eagerly and hopped up onto his shoulder as the agent started down the hallway. "I wonder what he wants me to do this time. Must be important, to call me away from home on such short notice like this. Bet it's a really cool assignment."

The mouse agreed eagerly. 1076 was highly recommended for the most difficult assignments out of all the standard agents for his utilization of Pokemon, whose strength found rivals benefiting the Special Agent corps. Plus, he had celebrity status in most areas and could infiltrate the most difficult and exclusive regions of the globe. 1076 and Pi talked all the way to the briefing room, which wasn't too far away from the launching docks. PKM prided itself on efficiency, which meant agents needed to be ready at a moment's notice. That mandate was slightly more difficult for a married man like 1076, but he made it work through his special arrangement with the Golden Ranger. 1076 whistled as he waited for the briefing room's door to hiss its way open.

Two people waited inside. The first was a familiar face, the person who had brought 1076 into the organization. The Golden Ranger, a man never found without his mask, stood behind a desk in the large briefing room. The room was massive, and arranged so roughly thirty people could be briefed at the same time, though thankfully thirty people were not seated in the rather uncomfortable chairs in the room. Instead there was one person waiting, notebook in hand, a pencil in the other. 1076 saluted 0, who returned the gesture, and took a seat next to the woman with the notebook.

"Agent 1076," the Golden Ranger stated in his mechanical, synthesized voice. "Thank you for agreeing to take this assignment on such short notice. We greatly appreciate it." 1076 waved his hand at the thanks and awaited the instructions.

"Before I begin, I would like to introduce you to Agent 7423," the ranger said and pointed to the girl next to 1076. He glanced at her, as he hadn't really noticed what she looked like when he walked in. She was short, much shorter then he, with short white hair and emerald eyes. She appeared somewhat nervous and frightened, as she kept fidgeting every second or so. Her fingers were also trembling. She looked like a newbie.

"Hey," he said to her and offered her his hand. "I'm Agent 1076. Nice to meet you, 7423." She blinked, as she had difficulty keeping eye contact with him, but took his hand in a very weak handshake.

"N-nice to meet you too," she replied in a fluttery voice.

The Golden Ranger coughed, clearly feeling that they had had enough time to get acquainted. Both grew silent and faced forward to allow the ranger to continue. "This mission is heavily classified, 1076 and 7423. Discussion of the contents is expressly forbidden by the Council. Is this understood?" Both agents nodded.

"The Blue Ranger, Agent 2, and the Black Ranger, Agent 4, have both gone missing under assignment in the Orange Islands." At this 7423's hand tightened and her lips quivered. "The other PKM Rangers and myself are too pressed for time to handle this situation, so we are sending you, 1076, to retrieve them if alive or recover their morphers if they are dead. Is that understood?"

1076 nodded. "Got it. Request SA equipment for a mission like this. If there's someone out there with 2 and 4's morphers, I want every possible resource."

The Golden Ranger shook his head. "I cannot give you SA equipment for something like this." Just as 1076 was about to protest, 0 retrieved something from on the desk: a white wristwatch. "You are being authorized this instead, 1076." The Golden Ranger tossed the watch to the agent, who caught it casually and glanced it over.

"Is this-"

"It is a PKM Ranger morpher, 1076," the ranger replied. "The decommissioned White Ranger morpher, to be precise. I was authorized by the Council to give you this, 1076, because it is my belief you are ready to join my team. The Council, however, has disagreed on that aspect, so this morpher is only for emergencies. Understand? Use it only if there is no other option."

1076 nodded. "I understand, sir," he answered and glanced at the morpher. "Pi and I will only use this if 7423 and I are left with no other choice."

The Golden Ranger seemed to smile. "Excellent. Head for the hanger, where a chopper is waiting for you. You will be given coordinates when you're in the air." Both 1076 and 7423 nodded and stood up in unison. 1076 tucked the morpher away into his work jacket and Pi boarded his shoulder as they rushed back to the hanger. His boots clunked against the ground and, to his surprise, 7423 seemed even more eager than he was to reach the helicopter, as she blazed past him. Not wanting to be outdone by a rookie, 1076 increased his speed, but even then was only just able to keep up with her on the way to the hanger.

Just as 0 had promised, a freshly fueled chopper was awaiting them. 7423 jumped straight into the driver's seat. 1076 did not approve. "Hey!" he panted, exhausted from their jog. "Get out of my seat, rookie. I'll be flying this thing." She didn't seem to want to argue, so she just hopped right over to the co-pilot's chair. 1076 closed the door and started the takeoff sequence immediately.

"Welcome, Agents 1076 and 7423," a nasally voice murmured through the communications system. 1076 recognized it and smiled. "It's a pleasure to be working with you both. Prepare for takeoff."

"Whatever you say, Bakaguru," he replied. 1076 punched in the ignition code. "This is… Hang on. 7423, what's the number on this helicopter?" He hadn't bothered to check the door. She shrugged and faced forward.

"It's 644," Bakaguru answered.

"Thanks." Into his receiver, 1076 muttered, "This is Poke 644, requesting permission to takeoff."

"This is Control Tower. Permission granted."

1076 grinned and glanced to his partner. "Ready, 7423?" he asked. She gulped and nodded eagerly. "Then let's go!" He started the chopper blades, and the chopper took off. Still with a smile on his face, excited about the mission, 1076 guided the chopper out of the hanger and into the bright Orre sun. Checking the coordinates Bakaguru was sending him, he oriented the helicopter to head due southwest, the location of 2 and 4's last sightings.

"So, what's the story, Bakaguru?" 0 asked as he set the machine on autopilot. "How'd two rangers get kidnapped? I thought 2 and 4 were supposed to be some kind of unstoppable duo or something. What happened?"

The radio crackled. "The official story is that they're MIA somewhere in the southern Orange Islands. Their morphers were last active on the Island of Corefo, which is where you two are heading now. Corefo is located roughly two hundred miles outside your current bearing, so you should be there in two hours at optimum speed. Be careful, agents."

"We will, Bakaguru," 1076 replied. "Thanks for the tips. Poke 644 over and out. We'll contact you when we land."

"Roger. 003 over and out." The radio died out so 1076 and 7423 had only each other to speak to all the long way to Corefo. The agent took off the headphones, as the cockpit was rather quiet, and turned to his new partner. "So, you're 7423, huh?" he asked the girl. "Why were you assigned to this mission?" She was a much more junior agent than he was; the seven-thousand agents were only in their first years, some only in their first few months. 1076 hadn't been in PKM long either, but he had managed to rise abnormally quickly in the ranks.

"I was assigned because of my family," she replied, not looking at him.

1076 nodded. "Is one of the rangers who disappeared your brother?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Both."

"Oh. Is that why you were assigned to this with me?" 1076 reclined his chair and rested his head. He waited a while, but for some reason 7423 didn't seem to be in the mood to talk. "Hey, kiddo, what's the matter?" he said and looked towards her hair. "Don't worry about Blue and Black. I'm sure that they'll be fine. Missions like this, usually the tracker on the rangers' morphers just got broken. I've done this before. This one time, we thought 1 got lost in a tsunami, it turned out he just wound up off course at a day spa." He chuckled.

He heard a giggle from her and knew he had hooked her in. "So…you're 1076?" she inquired and looked back at him. "You're a pretty laid back guy for such a high rank." She glanced at the white morpher he kept fiddling with. "And you're gonna be a ranger. Did you complete the course or something?"

He shook his head. "Naw. I was admitted into the PKM under special circumstances. I accidentally saved 0 and, well, the rest is history. I'm kind of a weird agent. 0 likes to call me an anomaly." He leaned to her and grinned. "Hey, want to know a secret?" he whispered.

She rolled her eyes. "What?" she retorted.

1076 pulled up his goggles. "Guess who I am." She peered into his face for a moment, unsure of herself, then her mouth widened in surprise.

"You're-"

"Yep." 1076 put his goggles back on. "The one and only."

"What're you doing here?"

He shrugged. "Right now, I'm making the world a better place. But other times… That's why I've gotta wear the goggles. PKM thinks I draw too much attention, and for some reason everyone seems to recognize me by my eyes. Plus, Pi's really good at espionage, so we make a good team." The yellow mouse nodded and hopped onto 7423's lap, clearly wanting to be scratched behind the ears. "I'm also one of the few agents that uses Pokemon in the field, making me really useful. It's why I have such a high rank."

"Me too!" she answered and pulled out a Pokeball from her pocket. "I only have one though."

"That's a good start," he said. "I carry five extra Pokemon with me, not counting Pi. I like to bring muscle, especially since I do most of my work undercover at Pokemon tournaments and stuff like that." He stretched out his hand to shake 7423's. "I'm 1076, like 0 said, but most folks call me the Golden Boy, or GB for short."

"I-I'm Serena," she said, and took his hand. "Serena Brine."

"Nice name, Serena. Much better than a number."

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1076 opened his eyes wearily. For some reason, his entire body ached, and his head was killing him. He was on the floor of some kind of room…it was all faded. "Serena," he moaned. He tried to rub his head, but for some reason could not. His hands were stuck together behind his back and didn't seem to want to move. On his stomach, he rolled over, breathing heavily. "Serena, you there?" A groan issued in response and 1076 turned his head to see his partner huddled in a heap on the other side of the room, arms bound. "So that's why mine won't move."

"GB?" she asked. "Where are we? What happened?"

"Don't know, Serena," he mumbled. "Weren't we talking about something…?"

"Yeah. Numbers or something."

Then 1076 snapped up, and regretted the choice immediately, as shooting pain ripped through his body. "Pi!" he shouted out. His vision focused. He was indeed in a room and not a helicopter that he last recalled being in. Strangely, the room was like a cavern. There was a wide space for himself and Serena, but bars cut them off from the rest of the room, including an exit he spotted through the dim light. However, the yellow mouse wasn't anywhere to be found and 1076 glanced at his belt. His Pokeballs were gone. "My Pokemon are gone!"

"Mine too." Serena was trying to reach into her pocket, but it was obvious that it was empty. "Mine too." She looked up, there were tears in her eyes. "My brothers gave me her for my birthday."

"Stay with me, Serena. Let's see if whoever did this was smart enough to check my boot." It took a bit of work, but 1076 managed to slink his hands low enough to grab the small knife he had his in the sole of his shoe. "Guess not, then." After a few moments, he cut himself free then crawled over and did the same thing for Serena. "You okay?" He noticed that she had sustained several bruises, but nothing too damaging.

"My side hurts, but I think I'm alright," she answered.

He nodded. "Good, because my legs are shot." Something had damaged them, so he propped himself against the wall. "They hurt like crazy, but they'll be fine before long. I just won't be able to walk for a bit." He glanced around the cavern. "See what time it is. I can't tell much in this light."

Serena agreed, and slowly stood up to hobble over to the iron bars. "I think it's past midnight, GB," she murmured. "I can see moonlight from the entrance over there." She pointed to an exit in the cavern that led out of a small lake inside the cave. "But these bars are too strong to break without any help." She slumped in the corner next to 1076.

He tried to get up, but his legs were stiff. "I have to find Pi. It's-" He coughed, and lowered his head. "I have to get back with it. My wife…my kid. I just have to get back." He tried to get up again, but slinked down again. "I can't do it," he grunted. "Serry, check my pockets. The morpher should still be in there."

She blinked. "Serry? Who's that?"

He chuckled, and some blood trickled out of his mouth. "It's you. Figured you could use a nickname too. Still, check the pocket." She did as he was told, and managed to locate the white wristwatch. "Great," he mumbled. "It won't work without a Pokemon, but at least we still have an active morpher. Just gotta send a distress signal, and we'll be rescued in no time." He tucked the morpher away for later. "Serry? Hear those footsteps?" A distant clinking was making itself known, it sounded like two people walking towards them. "Get ready, it looks like we get to meet our kidnappers." He coughed again, then spat up some blood on the ground. The feet got louder.

"Do you even remember what happened?" Serena asked.

He shook his head. "I guess we must have crashed or something. You have a couple of burns. Still, I don't know why they're bothering to keep us alive. These must be the guys who got 2 and 4, so they're going to be dangerous." He looked up and brushed off the dust on his goggles.

The two people who entered the cavern were both of equal height. They were both of equal weight. They were both men. In fact, the only thing that was different about them was the fact that one was wearing blue on the left, while the other wore black. Both of them, through the darkness, gleefully chuckled together, their green eyes piercing into the cage. One ruffled his hair, his very noticeably white hair. Serena stared in shock.

"W-What?" she asked them. "Is it you, brothers?"

The one dressed in blue grinned. "Yes, little sister," he answered, and stretched out his arm through the bar. "Come to us. We won't hurt you." Serena smiled and stood up like the Blue Ranger asked, holding her hands out in joy.

"Serry!" 1076 shouted hoarsely. "Don't! Get back here!"

She wasn't listening and took her older brother's hand through the bars. His grin widened and he grasped her arm. He giggled, as she grunted in discomfort, and pulled her in to kiss her lips. He spat in her mouth and shoved her back down to the floor. 1076 shouted in protest, but the man formerly known as 2 turned to his partner. "You want to have her for a while before we kill them?" he asked casually. "I don't think her partner's going to be able to do anything about it."

4 chuckled. "Maybe later," he replied. "Right now I'm fairly certain little sister and the Golden Boy have a few questions they'd like us to answer." He bent down to his little sister and his smile glowed through the translucent light of the cavern. "Would you like that, little sister? Some answers? Only a few, though. Some other things are best kept to ourselves for now."

Serena looked up with them, her eyes red with tears streaming from them. She was sobbing and curled up in the fetal position. "I got a few questions," 1076 answered. "Where's our Pokemon?"

The Black Ranger tilted his head, as if in deep thought. "You mean the mouse and the little balls you had on your belt? Well…the balls are being sold tomorrow to some kind of Rocket thing and the mouse is currently powering our generator at full capacity. In two hours, it will have produced enough to run this place for years!" His grin widened. "Of course, that also means it's going to die from overproduction, but it's still amazing how strong it is! You should be proud." He stood up, but not before kicking some dust into Serena's face. "We'll be back a little later. I promise we'll bring some whips for you to enjoy, Golden Boy. They can be very…exciting…" He laughed and, with 2, left them to ponder their fate. On their way out, 4 took the time to smack all the bars on their cage, each one issuing a resounding ding.

"Serry," the agent muttered. His partner didn't budge from the ball she was curled up in. "Serry!" He groaned shoved himself roughly from the wall, and began a very slow, painful crawl, during which he got to listen to her wracked sobbing, and the fact that she was somehow curling up further then he was certain he was capable of doing. With one final pull, he managed to reach her, and touched her hand. "Serry…"

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, and jerked her hand away. She spit, a lot, at the bars, as if by doing so she would be able to remove the memory from her mind. "Big brother!" she shrieked at the bars. "Please! Don't leave me like this! Don't…leave me…" Whatever was left was lost amidst her crying.

"Serry!" 1076 groaned as he forced her to face him, the pain shook through his lower body. "Serry, listen to me. I need you to listen to me!" She sniffed, but the tears weren't stopping. "Serry, we have to get out of here. Now," he whispered. "The longer we stay here, the more danger we're going to be in. We can't wait for PKM to find the distress beacon in the morpher."

She stared at him and then her eyes flittered to where 2 and 4 had disappeared to. "B-but my brothers. My brothers." She shoved her head in between her knees, drool collecting in her mouth. "Why…why?"

"Serry." He lowered his voice, he needed to stop yelling at her. "Serry, I need you to stay with me. We'll get out of here and get help. We have to get your brothers some help. But I need your help, Serry. I can't walk. I need you to help me help them. Okay?"

She sobbed a final time then, through her willpower, looked up with her reddened eyes. "Okay, GB," she croaked. "We'll get out of here and get help." She glanced around their cage. "How?"

1076 chuckled. "That's where I come in," he replied and sat up. With Serena's help, he managed to rest his back against the bars. "The bars have to have some sort of mechanism to them. When the Black Ranger was ringing the bars, I noticed that two in the center had different noises then the rest." He pointed up, to the ones he was leaned against. "My money's on the fact that they can be bent and opened." To prove his point, the agent smacked them both with his fingers. Each one sounded hollow. He banged the ones next to the center bars, both of which had full dings. "Piece of cake."

She giggled briefly. "Wow," she murmured.

He put a finger to his lips. "Keep quiet, though," he whispered. "They might catch wind of this. We've gotta wait for my legs to start working again before we can get moving." With that, 1076 lowered his arms and started massaging his legs to repair the damage to his limbs. "See I can feel the legs, but they're so stiff from injury that they won't move without extreme pain. No broken bones, no nerve damage. So I just need to tend to them a little bit. Here, help me get my pants off." He unclasped his belt and started for his zipper. With Serena's help, his bruised legs were free from the pants so he could have better access to them. "Thanks, Serry."

"No problem," she answered. His legs were severely damaged, but mostly through purplish lumps and small cuts in his flesh. His tendons, however, were intact, so it wasn't that hard to restore semi-painless motion to his limbs. "Are you ready?" 1076 looked to Serena; she looked almost ready to explode. He put his pants back on.

He nodded. "Yeah. Can you help me up, Serry?" She supported him as he struggled to apply pressure to his legs. He groaned in irritation but managed to overcome the pain and keep on his feet. "Okay," he said, his arm around Serena's shoulders. "Now, let's turn towards the bars to I can bend them." She did as he ordered and he took hold of the bars to support his body. "Let's hope this works." He took a deep breath and, with as much strength as he could muster, pulled the bars apart with a short grunt. "Let's get moving, agent." He grinned and Serena helped him through. 1076 made sure he had his knife in hand before he started stumbling forward. "Come on. We've got to save the Pokemon first. We'll beat up 2 and 4 on our way out. Their morphers are busted anyway, and I can take regular agents, even if they were rangers!"

The partners continued down the path into the cavern. Fortunately, the darkness was not complete and they were pretty capable of seeing through the translucent light. The passage kept going for about a minute or so into the earth, until they noticed a small amount of light at the end of the tunnel. 1076 motioned for Serena to stop and she came up beside him. "What do you think, Serry?" he asked.

She peeked over his shoulder into the small glow of light. "Might be your Pikachu. The poor thing's probably half-dead by now. We have to get it safely released now!" Her whisper echoed, but GB nodded.

"All right. I'll get Pi out of whatever it is they have it trapped in. You find the rest of our Pokemon. They'll be in an easy place to find. Your brothers don't strike me as very mentally competent." He regretted saying that the moment his mouth closed, but Serena must have chosen to ignore the comment and followed him into the glowing room.

1076 suppressed an urge to gag when he entered the room. It looked more like a dungeon from a fetish video then a base of operations. He noticed whips, collars, everything a masochist would love, all adorning the walls. The pieces of furniture inside appeared to have been designed purely to torture someone. He saw spots of blood in various parts of the equipment and, in the corner, a small but growing pile of dead women. "Serry, wait outside the room," he muttered, and stopped his partner.

She protested. "But GB-"

"-Do it," he ordered. He didn't think she needed to see this. Reluctantly, she did as she was told. She didn't need to see the women in the corner, or the fact that all of them had horribly dyed white hair. He headed for the electricity machine at the far end of the room, where his best friend was being tortured. It was a small glass box, very similar to the kinds Pi had been getting out of for years when Team Rocket came calling. However, 2 and 4 had obviously thought of this, and had strapped Pi down inside the machine with electricity-absorbing bonds.

He put his finger to his lips, signaling that Pi had to be quiet, even though the mouse was overjoyed to see its trainer again. He spotted the Pokeballs nearby on a bench and reattached his five before grabbing Serena's and tucking it into his pocket. "Sorry I lost you, guys," he murmured, then turned to the contraption his Pokemon was trapped in. Pi helped him, by mouthing the instructions in its mouse language. GB smiled and pressed the correct buttons on the control panel to open the machine and release his friend. Pi collapsed in its trainer's arms and GB made sure the Pikachu was fine before he started back the way he came.

He got out of that horrible room and repressed a shudder of disgust as he approached Serena. "Ready to go?" he whispered. She nodded and he led them back through the cavern, leaning heavily against the stone wall. It was exhausting, he needed to find some kind of hospital to get treatment for his injuries. They made it back to the room they had been imprisoned in, and Serena rushed forward in front of him suddenly, screaming. 1076 tossed Pi into the water before anything happened, but was too late to rescue himself. A harsh whip came down, wrapped around his legs, and pulled him down. He tasted sand and heard Serena continuing to scream in the background.

He had been caught by 2, who seemed a bit too excited about his capture. GB heard giggling as he was turned over, and propped up against the wall by the villainous ex-ranger. Without even thinking, without even considering, GB shifted through his pockets and tossed a wristwatch and a Pokeball in the direction he knew Serena was cowering in. The brothers paid their sibling no heed, much more interested in the specimen they were about to torture.

"What do you want to do, brother?" the Black Ranger asked and traced the shirt 1076 was wearing lightly with his fingers. "Want to make him squeal before we deal with little sister?" The other brother nodded, so 4 in a causal gesture ripped off the shirt and sent the fabric flying into the air. 1076 was breathing harshly, he had bumped his head on the rock. "Let's see how much he likes the whip…"

The weapon struck down hard, diagonally across his stomach. He groaned, as fresh blood began to trickle down into the sand. A second lashing, this time to the left pectoral, made him grunt. "He seems to like it, brother," the Blue Ranger noticed, despite the fact that it was obvious that 1076 was straining the last strands of his will to not scream in agony. Blood dripped from his mouth where he had bit himself to keep from crying out. "I will try his side." The whip struck hard against the side of his abdomen and he screeched, his face purple.

"S-stop," he muttered. "Please…" Images were flashing before his eyes. His family. His wife. His daughter. His friends. His Pokemon. Again and again the lash came down, carving a new scar into his chest. Eventually, the former rangers grew tired of simply slashing open his chest and kicked him down so his back was exposed to them. They tore off his jacket and struck again and again. "Please!"

"Stop it!"

Both the Blue Ranger and the Black Ranger, wondering who was brave enough to interrupt their fun, turned around to see their little sister standing defiantly against them, something in her hands. Something white. It was the wristwatch, a trinket, and yet she held it like a holy artifact and placed it on her wrist. "Stop it right now, my brothers, or I will kill you both where you stand!" she ordered and her eyes flashed with fury.

"What're you doing, little sister?" 2 cooed.

"Yeah," 4 agreed. "You can't do anything to us. You're our little sister."

She shook her head. "Not anymore!" She raised the morpher to her ear and pressed the ignition button. "_PKM Spirit…Activate!_" she roared and the entire cave was engulfed in a brilliant white light. 1076 vision was blurry, but he distinctly saw two figures being decimated by a heroine clad in white. His eyes closed and he started to dream, amidst the chaos that engulfed him.

He heard screams of pain, an explosion. He had no idea what was going on, but when he came to, he was in a hospital. He blinked a couple of times, wanting to be certain that this was true, and even pinched himself once to make sure, though it hurt him to lift his arm. There were needles everywhere, some inside the veins of his arms, there was even a catheter. He coughed, his chest hurt for some odd reason, until he looked down and noticed all the bandages from his wounds. "Am I…dreaming?" he asked no one in particular. The dimly lit hospital room seemed empty.

"Nope." He turned his head, and that's when he saw a lump of short white hair resting by the side of his bed. "Not even close, hero boy," Serena replied and raised her head. It was obvious she hadn't gotten any sleep for a while, there were bangs under her eye and she was suppressing yawns. "How are you feeling?"

He grinned. "Never better Serry," he muttered. "Actually, to be honest, I'm feeling kind of hurt right now. Any morphine available? Morphine's always good for situations like this." She nodded and pointed to a small drip on the other side attached to his right arm. "Good. Morphine helps." He looked around the dim room, searching for a small, mouse-shaped body. "You have any idea where Pi is? Is it okay?"

"It…" She took a deep breath. "Your Pikachu was in pretty bad shape, even worse then you were. We rushed it to the ER. They worked with it, and it should be fine soon. They're still treating it though, and you, so you can't go see it just yet."

He sighed and relaxed his head. The pillow was somewhat hard. "Good. I can wait if it'll be fine." He coughed and was very glad for the morphine that was circulating through the body. He lifted his left hand and felt his face. "My goggles are gone," he muttered and glanced to Serena. "Serry, you didn't tell anyone, right? My identity is supposed to be classified, okay?"

She took his hand, and he noticed a small wristwatch she was wearing. "I didn't tell a soul," she promised. "Besides, you were knocked out. This is a PKM hospital. We didn't need any medical records to keep you alive."

1076 turned Serena's hand, taking note of the morpher. "So, you're the new White Ranger, right?" he asked with a grin. "Congratulations."

She nodded and glanced down at the morpher, as if unsure if it was real. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to steal it from you. I just…wanted to protect you."

He waved his hand. "It's fine, Serry," he replied. "I threw it to you so you could stand a chance at rescue. I knew you'd be able to use it. So it'll be yours from now on, okay?"

"Okay. Hey, if you want, Bakaguru said that there are now two vacancies in the ranger team. If you wanted, I'm sure you could just ask for one and they'd give it to you."

"No. I appreciate the gesture, Serry, I do. It's just that I want to earn my morpher, not ask for it. That sounds kind of conceited, doesn't it?"

"I guess you're right."

"Damn right I'm right," he said with a smirk. "Now up the dosage on my morphine! My legs are killing me." She went to go get a nurse, and GB attempted to doze off into sleep.

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**_Present Day_**

0 watched in silence as Serena devoured her food. Every few seconds or so, the White Ranger would have to part her hair so it wouldn't get in her mouth, but her locks were rather stubborn. One minute of feeding later, Serena looked up through exhausted eyes, issued a groan similar to a satisfied Snorlax, and pushed her plate away. Wanting to appear polite, 0 cleared her box away by tossing it into the trash.

"You know," 0 muttered, nursing a bottle of booze in his hands, "that cannot be good for your complexion."

She blinked. "What?"

"Your face." He pointed to what he could see under her unkempt bangs. "I just don't think your face is good for you. Maybe we should ask Bakaguru about getting you some surgery to fix that." He laughed.

She fumed. "You're dead," she hissed and jumped across the table to tackle the Golden Ranger. 0 was ready and dodged as she passed over the small table. Serena, not to be outdone, caught his shirt with her nails and shoved him down into the ground, cackling. 0 used his superior weight to pin her to the ground with his back. "Get off me, you jerk!" She squirmed under his grasp, but eventually succumbed to his superior strength. "Okay, I've had enough. Let me go, please." He let her go and she panted for air.

"Sucker!" she squealed and pounced on him. 0 grunted, but was unable to dislodge her. She grabbed him and pinned the Golden Ranger down on the floor, straddling his waist and her hair draped all over his face. "Call uncle, or I make you scream my name." And, when she said this blatant example of her sexual desire, Serena made certain that her lips were just a breath's distance away from his earlobe.

"I have a better idea," 0 retorted.

She grinned. "Is it kinky?"

Then he grinned. "Nope. Pancake."

"Pancake?" she asked, confused.

Because Serena had chosen a position that roughly required her to press her entire body against 0's, the Golden Ranger flexed his muscles and, in a single movement, rolled over to force Serena into the exact same position he himself had just been in, only 0 weighed significantly more than his partner did. 0, to complete the exercise, proceeded to get up, then sit on her stomach. Chuckling to himself, 0 grabbed his bottle and continued to drink.

"Get off me, you lummox!" Serena gasped. He was rather heavy, but not heavy enough to cut off her air. 0 just snickered and took another drink, ignoring the tiny little fists of his partner as she struggled to dislodge him. The Golden Ranger, rather humored by her antics, continued to drink until his bottle was drained. He smacked his lips in satisfaction before setting the bottle down on its coaster.

"I love a good drink in the morning," he murmured. "Keeps the fuel cells running." He glanced down at her and smiled. "Have we learned our lesson, 3? Ready to give up and call uncle?"

"Uncle!" she gasped. "Uncle! Now get off me, you Wailord!"

He shrugged. "If you say so, Snorlax," he replied, and rose. "Now come on. You've got to give me the password to 415's research. I don't think she likes me very much, but maybe she found it in the vacant space where her heart presumably used to be to give you the password."


	9. Morph 9

**Morph Nine: An Educational Adventure**

The computer's keyboard made the kind of clinking noises usually reserved for those who have horrendously wronged the person doing the typing. For 0 in particular, it was very difficult to watch a soap opera when the sound from Serena's laptop seemed like a herd of Snorlax stampeding through the living room. Here he was, squinting to read the subtitles that scrawled across the screen as the laptop was making far too much noise for him to hear what the actress was saying about her plotting to murder her husband. But, after a while, even the Golden Ranger's somewhat-infinite patience was waning.

He lazily tilted his head towards her the moment the commercials started. "3," he muttered, and somehow he was heard. "If you don't stop banging on that laptop, I'm going to have to take it away." In response, the White Ranger shot him a rather irritable look, and stopped typing. "No, no. I didn't say stop. I said quiet." She stood up and it was at that point that 0 noticed that she was wearing very little. In fact, the little she was wearing was probably worse than if she had been naked. "Stay there." For some odd reason, she misinterpreted this order as a request to come forward, wearing nothing but a very tight bra and what 0 prayed was underwear underneath her translucent robe. "Do not do that."

She crawled on her hands and knees towards him, a sly smile on her face. "Hey, baby," she murmured, and it was at this point 0 realized what a great idea it would be to begin moving away from her. Somehow, though, she managed to back him into the nearby wall and her advance was probably more terrifying then any horror he had ever witnessed during his years in the PKM. She crawled up onto him and 0 thanked whatever Legendary Pokemon that had given him the hindsight to wear heavy clothing, because she started wrapping her bare legs around his waist, and played with his shirt with her fingers. "What's say we make like the Pokemon in springtime, huh?"

"3...this is very unprofessional," he replied, as he attempted to dislodge her from his person. She resisted rather well, in fact the endeavor to remove her was making the situation worse. "Get off. Immediately." She was choosing a very annoying time to play deaf, as she inched her face closer and closer to his ear. The soap opera playing on the television was growing monumentally less important by the instant.

She continued to defy him. "Well," she said into his ear, his lips just grazing the lobe, "I want you to know that, the moment you drop your guard, you're mine. Also, I've managed to hack into 415's files and, if you'd like to look at them, we should." Having succeeded in transforming 0 into the skin-tone equivalent of the freshest cherry, Serena slowly dislodged herself, giving the Golden Ranger plenty of time to feel her slide off him, which helped matters in no way. By the time she had gotten off him and wandered right back to the computer, making sure that her eyes traced his outline, 0 felt ready to explode.

"You couldn't tell me this in a calm, decent, moral manner?" he asked, seething.

She slowly shook her head and her hair bounced across her perfect shoulders… 0 diverted his eye contact from her. "Where's the fun in that?" she asked and patted the seat next to her. After much consideration, 0 yielded and sat down to face the computer. "Ready to see it?" She twirled her hands over the keyboard and in seconds the content of the data file was displayed in a small folder on the screen.

He nodded. "Yeah."

She smirked. "That's good. Give me a back rub."

"Excuse me?"

"A backrub." She decided to slow down, just in case he couldn't figure out what she was talking about. "It's that thing you do with the massage oils and the candlelight. It's normally followed by rough and very passionate encounters." She threw her hair back, obviously in an attempt to seduce him. "I want a backrub before I show you my research."

0 considered it. "Fair enough. But, since this is 415's research, not yours, I figure I get a free ticket to the show. Punch it up, 3. We don't have all day."

She snorted. "What else are we gonna do besides trade jabs?" she asked, slightly annoyed that he had managed to get past her otherwise infallible logic for getting a backrub. When he didn't answer and turned to the computer, she sighed and activated one of the files inside the folder. "I managed to get some data on those Dark Gems she was talking about. Remember?"

"Yep," he replied. "Sounds like nasty stuff."

"Tip of the iceberg," she said. When the file loaded, an image was displayed with several precious gems in some kind of case. To its right was another photo, this time of some ancient drawing. Beneath was a paragraph or so of text. "Basically, it says that these things are bad news. They're some kind of energy source, like our ranger spirits."

0 glanced momentarily to his morpher. "These things work like Pi?"

She shook her head. "Close, but no banana, monkey man. Our morphers are activated using a ranger spirit, which is made from a living, breathing Pokemon. So, to utilize a PKM morpher, a live Pokemon is required." She clicked on the images and close-ups of the Dark Gem photos were displayed. "These things could, according to the theory in 415's text, be modified to operate with a different kind of morpher. Similar to ours, but really, really different at the same time."

"How so?"

She paused, as if truly disgusted by what she was about to tell him. "These things harness the power of dead Pokemon. Not Ghost Pokemon. Dead ones. Dark Gems are capable of absorbing the dead souls of Pokemon and corrupt themselves with that power. With the right tech, you could make a morpher and fashion a ranger uniform from it." She pointed to the gems themselves, and 0 noticed they were all of different colors. "The color denotes how many souls it can absorb. Onyx ones are the weakest, normally able to get one or so, but some of the stronger ones can house up to a thousand souls of innocent Pokemon!"

0 grimaced. "That's really sick," he muttered. "That's…really sick, 3. I can't imagine anyone doing something like that."

She nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, and that's not even the worse part."

"What could be worse than that?"

"These things are kind of kind the antithesis of our morphers. We use a living Pokemon, which means our power is based on that living Pokemon. It's a safe, and stable model, but it also limits our maximum power. These Dark Gems aren't inhibited by something like that. They trade stability for raw strength. Basically-" She lowered her eyes, and stared at the ground "-if someone got their hands on enough Pokemon souls, they could create a massive force that our tech won't be able to handle."

0 clenched his hands in fury and smashed the ground in irritation. "So you're telling me that my morpher, that our morphers, which are the most advanced technology of this day and age, are completely useless against some ancient theory?" His voice was rising. He breathed heavily.

Serena put her hand on his shoulder. "Ain't that how it always is? Anyway, these Dark Gems are supposed to be incredibly rare, only six have ever been reported being found other then onyx types."

"We've got to find them," he decided. "If we can, they can't be used, right?"

"That's an unlikely theory," Serena answered. "According to some of 415's research, it says that for roughly five years there have been some random break-ins in various museums around the world. All of them had displays of various gem shows in display. Several claim that a bunch of onyx gems were taken, but a few have had other colors stolen. Someone's already started stealing them."

0 sighed, and shook his head. "How…how many?" he asked.

"Couldn't say. But…" She grinned. "There's one that 415's tracked down. A nice, shiny emerald. If we pick it up, we should get a little bit of edge on the bad guys."

"I'm sensing there's something else in this," he replied.

She nodded and, in a deeply worrying moment, her smile brightened. "There is one, and only one way, we are going to be able to get at the Dark Emerald. It's being held at, conveniently enough, the museum an hour or so away from here. The problem is, this museum is off-limits to normal walk-ins. It's for tour groups and things like that. You need a reservation or something to get in."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Nope. Fortunately, I managed to find a solution that not only lets us get in tomorrow, but it lets us do it with style."

0 sat up. "That's fantastic, 3. How?"

She smirked widely. "Undercover. There's a school that's going on a tour of it tomorrow, and they're low on teachers because of some kind of strike. I called PKM, and got us employed as substitute teachers. I'll be doing history, you'll be battle theory."

"I'm sorry," he said. "It sounds like you got us jobs as teachers. Please tell me that is not what you did."

She grin broadened. "Perfect cover. It'd explain why Keean Toby's suddenly found housing in Petalburg, and it'll give you a chance to do something you've wanted to do all your life."

"What?"

"Have you ever wanted to see your daughter in school?" she asked. "We're substitutes at the Petalburg Pokemon Academy, where little Sarah Birch goes to school, and where our target has accepted a substitute position of her own as a Contest tutor. I figured it would be the best place for us to hide out, and earn some side cash until the strike's over."

0 scratched his chin, and felt some slight stubble that informed him he was well overdue for a shave. "Yeah," he muttered, as though not quite aware of what he was agreeing to. "Yeah, we can try it, if you think it'll work. Is she-" He looked up, and 3 caught a glimmer of hope in his smile "-is she going to be in my class?"

Serena nodded. "I made sure for you."

He chuckled. "Thank you, 3," he replied and grabbed her quickly in a bear hug. "Thanks a lot!" He started laughing, and Serena started screaming, as her partner started to twirl her around in the air.

"Let go!" she demanded, her eyes spinning. "I'm getting dizzy!"

He grinned and did as she requested. Serena went flying right into the wall. Fortunately, his partner wasn't quite the ditz he knew she pretended to be and planted her legs against the surface, propelling herself right back to knock his jaw with one fist. 0 went down, as he had not expected an attack from her. A sharp knock from below the floor issued, probably someone tired of the commotion they normally caused. Both looked to each other and felt rather childish.

"So…" Serena said, making a vain attempt to sound all business. "We're going to have to set your morpher up with a clothing program. You'll need to look the part of a lecturer at a private school." She sat down at the laptop and started typing. "What do you want?"

Clothing program, that would probably help, he thought, and sat down beside her. "Uh… I suppose that we could put in some dress clothes or something like that for the work." Serena's fingertips whirled on the board and a comfortable, yet professional black suit emerged with rough dress pants, a sports coat, and a lithe sweater underneath. "Perfect," the Golden Ranger muttered. "Next, my PKM uniform, complete with goggle system for emergencies." Serena complied. "And some casual clothes for other times. I figure that'll be enough."

"Okay," she answered. "Now, can you give me your hand real quick? I need to jack the morpher into the system to download the program." He presented his morpher and she extended a jack into the wristwatch device. "I'm adding a few more I think you'll like too. They'll help out." 0 watched the loading bar slink its way to the right and when it finished Serena removed the jack. "It works pretty much the same way as our ranger outfits. Only difference is that they don't require a morphing call to activate. Just press the red button and the morpher will cycle through what you want with a single tap. A double tap alternates the outfits."

He nodded, and cycled to the business casual suit. His street clothes glowed red and, in a small burst of light, transformed seamlessly between the two outfits. "This'll work," he said and looked himself over. Serena grinned, and flashed him a very odd look with her eyes. He looked through the remainder of the clothes, but stopped on one specific one he took notice of. "Uh…3?"

"Yes, Baby-chan?" she asked innocently.

"Why is there an option for erotic underwear in this?"

Serena looked back down to her computer and refused to comment.

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"Hand me the cycle capsule," Keean Toby asked, as he stepped out from his apartment with his lady friend, Serena. She happily complied and produced a tiny little container that held their primary mode of transportation. He clicked the top without thought and tossed it into an empty parking space in front of the curb. It exploded and a slim motorcycle emerged. "Think this'll work?" he asked and tossed his girlfriend a helmet, which she caught casually and stuck on her head. Her snow-white hair escaped at the bottom.

She nodded. "Yep, Kee-chan," she replied with a smile, though he couldn't see it from underneath the helmet's visor. The giant stuck on his own helmet and boarded the machine. Serena walked up behind him and swung her hips onto the contraption. "So I suppose I'm riding shotgun?" she asked sarcastically and dug her fingers into his stomach as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Retract your claws," he ordered, and she did so, but replaced her nails with sensual massage. "And stop clinging. We're trying to make a good first impression, not get ourselves banned from being within a hundred yards of children. If you're going to be a teacher, at least behave like one." He revved up the engine and put up the kickstand.

"Oh, are we feisty today, Kee-chan?" she asked. "Don't worry, you can have me all to yourself when we get home. I promise."

"This is going to be harder than I thought it was going to be," he retorted and, with a final rev, started the motorcycle. It was surprisingly quick, and handled superbly. Within moments, Keean Toby got a basic grip on the motorcycle and was gunning through early morning traffic in the direction of the Petalburg Pokemon Academy. Several of the cars didn't seem to share his enthusiasm and honked with gusto as he soared between their stagnant hulks. The motorcycle, a far more agile and subtle creature then the automobiles, was more then up to the task of getting through the traffic. Soon, they bid a fond farewell to the morning snail trail and revved their way in the direction of the school. Serena enjoyed the ride, Keean Toby looked at it like business.

"Got any idea where this place is?" he asked over the loud engine.

"Gotta turn left on the next street. It'll lead us right there."

"Huh. Pretty close by."

"Guess our little princess doesn't like her little princess too far away."

Keean Toby caught sight of the school a few blocks away. It was actually larger then he thought private schools were supposed to be. The campus seemed divided between three different buildings separated by multiple battle fields. It actually looked rather nice. The man stopped the bike right in front of the main building, where Serena had said that they had to check in with the office administrators. She got off and handed him her helmet, and he capsulated the bike with one flick of a button right next to the dashboard. It flashed red and he pocketed the small container.

"Ready, Kee-chan?" she asked sweetly.

He groaned. "Let's just try to survive this trip," he replied and offered up his arm, which she took greedily. Playing her part, she allowed him to lead her into the building while whispering directions to him as to where to go. "Where are you going to be headed?" Her job description was noticeably different then his own, as his would probably mean standing outside in the battle fields while hers would be lecturing.

She pointed to one of the classrooms. "My itinerary said that I would be discussing the differences between Kanto and Orre Pokemon Leagues. You're supposed to talk tactics with kids."

"Aren't my strategies too advanced for five-year-olds?"

"Dumb them down then."

"This must be it," he said and pointed to a door which apparently housed the administration office, judging from the small sign on the door. He opened it for Serena and stepped inside the rather cramp office, wherein several office ladies were typing away at monitors. Only one, apparently the head of the office, eyed the door with the look of someone desperately bored. She jumped up from her desk when she noticed Serena and outright gasped when Keean Toby crammed himself inside.

"Who are you two?" she asked and straightened her glasses.

Serena smiled. "I'm Serena Brine and this is Keean Toby. We were drafted to fill two teaching positions. I'll be doing Region Studies, while my gigantic friend here is scheduled to lecture on battle theory."

The woman squinted suspiciously with her eyes and then glanced down at some papers on her desk. "Yes well, it says you're on the list, so welcome. Thank you for filling in on such short notice. As you can guess, we have been rather understaffed as of late." She glanced to the clearly overworked women and sighed. "We should have gone on strike with the teachers," she murmured with some longing. "Come. I will show you your classrooms. Ms. Brine, you will be in the history section on the third floor here, and Mr. Toby, you will be on the first floor in the third building. Now, you know that after regular hours some of the students have signed up for a trip to the museum, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am," Keean Toby replied. "We're supposed to do that too, right?"

The woman, whom upon closer investigation had Penning written on her nametag, nodded. "Normally, we use our own teachers, but until they return to work next week, we have to rely on the few that remained and the subs we can get. Come," she said for a second time and showed them out of the rather depressing office. Keean Toby glanced back with pity and one of the women gave him a mournful glance before returning to the computer screen, so he followed Ms. Penning and Serena down the hall. After ascending some stairs the trio found themselves in a modest classroom, probably for twelve or so children.

"Sure you can handle this?" Keean Toby asked.

She smirked. "Sure I can, Kee-chan. Have fun."

He waved goodbye and Ms. Penning looked immensely displeased at their small gesture of affection. He grinned to her and shrugged as they headed out into the battle fields. "So, I'm guessing the both of you are involved, right?" Ms. Penning asked coyly. Keean Toby chuckled.

"I suppose you could say that," he replied.

She appeared to be fuming, as though disgruntled by this information. "Well, don't let it get in the way of work!" she snapped and raised her finger to him. "You men always let your hormones boss you around, so don't forget you're supposed to be an educator today!" She glared at him as she walked, giving Keean Toby the impression he was being reprimanded for being in a relationship.

"Yes ma'am," he answered sheepishly. They crossed the battle fields quickly and entered the building.

"Do you have a Pokemon?" asked the secretary.

"Uh…" Yes, yes he did have a Pokemon, but did not have immediate access to it. "Not at the moment, no."

She fished into her jacket and tossed him the red and white ball. "Here you are," she said. He caught the ball in surprise. "That's a rental. Lose the Pokemon and it's coming out of your pay." Disregarding him, she proceeded down the hallway towards his classroom.

Keean Toby glanced at the ball. It was strange, he thought, finally holding a Poke Ball after so long. He had used many as a trainer, but ever since he had entered PKM full time he hadn't really thought of using them ever again. A mental image flashed in his head of his other Pokemon at Professor Oak's. _I should go see them. It's been years since I went home_. He put the thought out of his mind for now, as the administrator had stopped for some reason at a single room from which the sounds of playful children echoed.

"Have fun," Ms. Penning said in an almost, but not quite, sweet voice, and left him to his fate, whistling briskly as she headed back to her den of offices. He braced himself and coughed.

"Be brave," Keean Toby told himself. "They're just kids. You've handled terrorists, robberies, bomb threats, and evildoers in spandex. You can handle children."

How wrong he was.

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Sarah Birch was rather absorbed in her drawing and as a result didn't see the person that had come to teach her class for the day. The other students gasped in awe of this figure who seemed to radiate masculinity and coolness, but the happy little girl was far more interested in putting the finishing traces on the portrait of her mother. It was only after she had properly scribbled in the last hints of brown in the hair did she bother to glance at the person who had somehow quieted the entire room by entering it. None of her other substitute teachers had even made it that far.

When she did see him, her eyes bulged.

He was fearsome, even in the amazingly spiffy suit he had on, like a well-dressed wild Pokemon at rest, waiting to pounce. His dark mane hid most of his face, but his lips were pressed in a slight scowl, almost as though he was incapable of moving them outside of that position. In his hand was a Poke Ball, the same hand that had a cool-looking wristwatch.

"Good morning, everyone," he said in a gruff Orre dialect. "My name is Mr. Keean Toby. I am to be your instructor for today's lessons." He paused to take a breath. "If you will all-"

"You're the guy that beat my mom!" shouted Sarah from the back. Keean Toby glanced up at the girl and she saw his lip quiver for a moment, as though some sort of realization had assaulted his brain. "You're the meanie who beat my momma in Saffron."

He gulped. "Yes," he replied. "I was asked personally to help until the teacher strike is over. We will now move on." Keean Toby decided not to look at Sarah again, as he proceeded directly to the desk where his lesson plan sat waiting. He picked up the sheet of paper, rifted through it briefly to get the gist of it and put it back where it was. "You are here to learn special tricks to Pokemon Battles, right?" The class nodded. "Okay. I think I can let you in on a few secrets."

"How do you talk to Pokemon?" Sarah asked suddenly.

He kept looking at the class, as if unsure who had spoken, though Sarah was quite sure he knew it was her.

"In the fight with my momma, you talked to your Pokemon. How?"

This question generated many from the students.

"You can talk to Pokemon?"

"What do Pokemon think?"

"Are you a witch?"

Keean Toby held up his hand and, as if by some magic spell, the entire class silenced itself. "Talking in Pokemon language takes a lot of time to learn. But it's very important that you understand what Pokemon are trying to tell you." He lifted the Poke Ball and clicked the button. The ball exploded in a beam of light and a small little dog-like creature appeared on the desk.

Keean Toby glanced at the small blue critter. "This is a Riolu," he explained. "What can you tell me about it?" The Riolu itself was asleep and he didn't feel like waking it rudely. "Raise your hands." The class silenced itself in the middle of its shouting fest. One boy in the middle of the classroom raised his, and Keean Toby called on him.

"It's a Fighting Type," the boy answered. "It's also the Emanation Pokemon, and will evolve into a Lucario if its happiness level is high in the daytime."

Keean Toby processed the information. "That told me nothing," he muttered and glared at the kid. "Where'd you learn that? From a Pokedex?"

He nodded.

Keean Toby sighed. "Between you and me, a Pokedex is good for very little. Sure, it can tell you about Pokemon you don't know about, but that's about it." He glanced to the Riolu, who had just woken up and had begun stretching. "I asked you to tell me about this Riolu, not about Riolu in general. Who can tell me anything about this Pokemon?"

No one raised their hand, perhaps because they misunderstood what he was asking for. Serena had told him to be light-hearted with the students, but this was proving vastly difficult for him, as he wasn't sure he could dumb it down any further then he already had. Finally he grunted and the class jumped in fear. "Look at the Pokemon," he said and gestured to Riolu, who had started punching the air for its workout. "It has a sleek coat, what does that tell you?"

"It's well fed?" ventured a voice in the background. Keean Toby glanced to the origin, a girl seated in the back.

He smiled. "Very good. What else can you guess from it?" Now that one of them had figured out the trick, it would be easy for the rest to play the game. He turned to the Riolu and decided that impressing the group wouldn't kill him. "_Lu, Rio_," he muttered to the Pokemon, who gazed at him in shock, having never heard a human speak its tongue.

"_Riolu Lu_," the Pokemon admitted and nodded its head. The class gasped in awe.

Keean Toby faced the class. "Riolu has just informed me that our suspicions were confirmed. It has plenty to eat but, as you could maybe tell from its claw imperfections, it has not been receiving a balanced diet. The imperfections in the color give it away."

"How do you know that?" asked the boy in the middle of the classroom.

The man sighed, and rubbed his forehead. "Sorry, I keep forgetting you guys are just kids. I've been doing this for a long time, so I make it look easy, but it's supposed to be really hard to memorize this material. I guess that's why they give you this easy class instead of something that'll get you ready to take care of your Pokemon when you get to be of age." He lowered his hand. "All I can tell you is that being a trainer is very hard, and the first thing to do as a good trainer is to notice little stuff like that with your Pokemon. Treat them well, and they will reward you with their loyalty and respect. Trust me, a friend of mine named Z took forever to trust me when it evolved." For some reason, lecturing appeared to be getting easier, and Sarah Birch noticed he had unknowingly began to pace. "Speak to them. It takes forever to master the Pokemon language, but Pokemon can understand our dialects anyway, so it's just a cheap parlor trick. What's important is that you trust your Pokemon and that they trust you."

It was quite moving. The harsh, gruff sounds of his Orre dialect seemed insignificant in comparison to what he was saying. Even Sarah, who disliked the man who had painfully defeated her mother, found him oddly intriguing. She raised her hand and he called on her.

"How do we get them to trust us?" she asked.

At this, Keean Toby smiled. "What's your name, girl?"

"Sarah Birch."

"Well then Sarah Birch, why don't we go find out?"

The odd Orre man led the children out of the room in a single-file line, after making sure to grab Riolu for the purposes of his demonstration. The dog Pokemon rode on his shoulder as a mouse once did and all the way Sarah Birch watched him suspiciously. She knew this man from somewhere, she felt it as instinctively as she felt the need to annoy her uncle. He looked exactly like a picture she had drawn, which had suspiciously gone missing recently. Was he the man from the picture come to life? She wanted to know.

He stepped out onto the battlefield and Riolu gracefully leapt down from his back. "The object of a Pokemon Match, whether it's a Battle or a Contest, is to constantly protect your Pokemon." He looked down at the Riolu. "_Lu, Riolu!_" he ordered and the Pokemon nodded with a grin. Both Pokemon and human faced one another and bowed to each other. "I am going to engage Riolu in battle, since I don't have a second Pokemon to demonstrate with." He removed the fancy jacket he wore. "Is there a place to put this?" After glancing around the field, he placed the jacket on a nearby bench.

"Are you gonna fight the Riolu?" Sarah asked the apparently suicidal substitute.

He nodded. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll go easy on it."

"But teacher said we weren't supposed to fight Pokemon ourselves," one of the other students complained. "We're supposed to fight with Pokemon."

Keean Toby, though he didn't mean to, glared at the kid. "Your teacher isn't here. Your Pokemon should respect you and you should respect them. Right Riolu?" He returned to his stance of defense and the dog nodded. "Then come!"

The Riolu kicked up some dust, snorted, and charged forward. Because the Riolu was roughly a third of Keean Toby's impressive height. it had nowhere near the amount of muscle on the substitute, in spite of it being a fighting Pokemon. It lunged with a sharp kick to the substitute's left ankle. Keean Toby grunted, as the Pokemon had somehow hit a very painful nerve. Keean Toby swung his fist down to grab the Pokemon, but Riolu somehow managed to get behind him and kick the backs of his knees, forcing the giant down. The children gasped.

Riolu rushed to deliver the final blow and that was its mistake. Keean Toby rolled out of the way just as the blow was thrown and tossed a kick at the Pokemon. Riolu was forced to dodge left, right into the waiting grasp of the substitute. Keean Toby grabbed Riolu by the scruff of its collar and hauled it up with him as he stood back up. He checked himself and discovered he had only accumulated a small amount of dust on his immaculate shoes.

The Riolu struggled, but wasn't quite able to do much of anything. Keean Toby smiled. "See? I captured the Pokemon, all on my own," he explained. "Some trainers prefer to use their Pokemon as work horses. Others liken them to slaves. But they aren't. They are our equals and to treat them in any other way is just degrading." He lowered Riolu to the ground, where it now stood by its side, disappointed by its loss but nonetheless satisfied by the fight. "Understood, children?"

The class applauded.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"So…" Serena purred and leaned in just a little too close for comfort, "how'd your first day as a teacher go?"

0 glanced out the bus window and attempted to drown out the noise from the back seats. "Fine," he replied and ignored her. He kept staring at the Poke Ball in his hand.

"When'd you get a new Pokemon?" she asked and looked it over.

He decided to put it away. "I got it for my services today. Ms. Penning said I did such a good job she'd give me the Pokemon instead of a paycheck. I took the Riolu." He didn't know why either. "I guess I got nostalgic for my old days as a trainer. It'll be fine, right?"

Serena sighed. The big lug had such a big heart sometimes. "Yeah, it'll be fine. We can put it up in a small training mat so it can sleep, I can stock the fridge with Poke Blocks. You can train it on the roof of our building. We'll make it work. It'll be like a baby…" She grinned at him.

0 groaned. "I knew you would say that. Please don't make our living arrangement any more awkward then you already do."

But Serena was already on a roll and, from the looks of it, she wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. She whined on and on about their new 'family' all the way to the museum exhibit. It wasn't that long of a drive but he was fairly certain that any short trip could be incredibly extended by Serena's badgering. By the time the bus finally pulled up to the museum, he had had his ear talked off and rather wanted to escape the confines of the small bus and the even smaller set of seats he was sharing with Serena.

The bus pulled up to the driveway and 0 assisted Serena with the disembarking of the students. The majority of them in the bus were from his class, so it wasn't particularly difficult to get them to move. They lined up single-file and awaited further instructions. 0 tried to ignore the girl with the pigtails in the back, but found himself glancing at her every few minutes just to make sure she was okay.

"Are there any more buses, Ms. Brine?" he asked Serena.

She glanced at the incoming traffic. "There's supposed to be three more arriving after us, Mr. Toby," she replied. "They'll be here in a few minutes. They got stuck behind a red light on the way down here."

"Okay." 0 took out his student roster and shouted off the names on the list to make certain everyone was there. He hesitated momentarily before he saw Sarah Birch's name, but called it out anyway to avoid suspicion. When he finished, he saw the three other buses headed in the direction of the museum. When they disembarked, 0 received the shock of his life.

In all honesty, he shouldn't have been shocked by her appearance there. After all, the lack of teachers must have required her presence. Together with her brother, she led a gaggle of children down the steps to meet the rest of the field trip groups. Her hair almost fluttered in the cool breeze. He thought she looked magnificent, but turned away the moment she arrived so he wouldn't be noticed right away.

Fortunately, he wasn't the first person who caught her eye. "Mommy!" Sarah shouted loudly, causing several people to cover their ears from the noise radius. She waved, jumped, did everything, until her mother noticed her. When May did, she smiled, and headed over to Sarah to hug her daughter after telling her brother to keep an eye on everyone in their groups.

"Hi, honey," May said and picked up her daughter. "Did you learn a lot today?"

"Yup! We had a good sub today, even if he was mean to you."

May was confused. "What? Sarah, who are you talking about?"

Sarah pointed to 0. "Mr. Toby!" she squealed.

"Oh really?" May asked. "Well, think I can have a chat with Mr. Toby?"

0 suppressed his urge to leave as May lowered her daughter back into his ranks and seemed to glide over to him. "Well, well, well Mr. Toby," she said and held out her hand. "We meet again."

0 played his part to perfection. "My apologies, Ms. Birch," he replied. He took her hand, shook it gingerly, and released it. "I hope you'll allow me to look after your daughter for a little while longer."

"I suppose I can see my way to allowing that," she replied. "By the way, have you met my brother Max?" She glanced over at her brother, who was rapidly becoming overwhelmed by the children. "Uh-oh… I should probably go help him. He's not good at handling kids."

"Perhaps I will meet him some other time, Ms. Birch," 0 said.

She chuckled and 0 detected an odd hint of a blush in her face. "I hope you do. Are you in town for long?"

He nodded. "Because of my coverage in the conference, I was asked to come here to help out for a bit, but I might see my way to staying a little longer. It's a nice city."

May pulled out her purse and grabbed one of her cards. "Well, if you get a chance, call me. I'd love a rematch with that Pikachu of yours."

0 gulped, but she didn't notice. "I have many other Pokemon, Ms. Birch. Variety is the spice of life."

She looked him over and smiled. "I agree." She tilted her head, then went back over to where her brother was attempting to dislodge a vast amount of children who seemed rather eager to see how many injuries he could sustain to his legs. 0 breathed a sigh of relief, but was slightly worried. He thought he had seen a facial expression from May that he was used to only seeing from femme fatales he had met on his adventures. Or Serena.

"Okay!" Serena shouted, breaking 0's deterioration of thought. "Everyone please line your students up and we'll go inside!" This announcement was hailed by the children, who apparently were very excited to learn for reasons that eluded 0, who was expecting to be bored while inside the museum. At Serena's orders, all eight groups of children began to shuffle in the direction of the main lobby of this vast museum and meet the tour guides. May and Max's guide came first and 0 watched them herd the jabbering animals towards the east wing.

"Where are we going first?" 0 asked, when Serena rejoined him.

She shrugged. "I'm pretty sure that we're visiting the north wing first. I made sure we'd go there first, it's where the Dark Emerald is located. Make sure your com-link is working and get Pi into the security system. It can disable cameras and we can use the kids as cover to take it."

"Why would we want it?" He didn't like the idea of having a Dark Gem in their apartment.

"Well, the alternative is waiting around for the terrorists to take it. Do you think you can pull off that super-speed trick again? It would definitely help."

"I don't know," he replied. He had been trying to, all day in fact, but he hadn't been able to make anything slow down like he had that day. "I'll give it a try later." He grabbed the com-link in his pocket and tucked it into his hair on his ear. "Pi, you with me?"

"Is it true we're getting a new Pokemon?" it asked, a hint of excitement in its voice. "I can't hear much in your stuffy pocket."

"Yeah, I got a Riolu at the school. It looked a little unhappy being stuck in a Poke Ball all the time, so I thought I'd take it in lieu of payment for today. You don't mind, do you?" He didn't want Pi getting jealous.

"No way! The more the merrier!"

0 chuckled. "Good to hear it. Now-" He lowered his voice so the children wouldn't hear him "-when I give the signal, disable all security systems in the north wing of the building. Go and hack into the mainframe to set it up. I don't want anyone to even know that anything is wrong."

"No problem," replied the Pikachu. "Think you can give me…oh…ten minutes?"

"More than enough time," 0 answered. "Get going." The link went dead, but 0 knew the mouse would respond when the job was done. "How are we going to get the Dark Emerald out of here? Museum staff will notice if it goes missing during our visit."

Serena grinned. "Got it covered," she replied and pulled a green stone from her pocket. "Replicate. Switch them and we'll be good to go. They won't notice for days, and by then it'll be impossible to trace."

0 pocketed the stone and nodded. "Okay. Let's do this." The tour guide, a young man with an obscene moustache, arrived to take charge of the group.

"Alexander Anderson," he said and held up his hand. 0 took it while trying to avoid looking at Alexander Anderson's upper lip. "I'll be taking you all on the tour."

"Keean Toby," 0 said. "Serena Brine." He gestured at Serena. Alexander Anderson gave Serena a slightly lewd look, which she reciprocated in an endeavor to distract the youthful tour guide. It worked, as the happy-go-lucky Alexander Anderson took Serena by the arm and led the group to the north wing, leaving 0 to bring up the rear of the two classes, which he was perfectly happy to do. It gave him some time to figure out how exactly he was going to slow down time long enough to swap the gems, or even how he was supposed to slow it down period.

"Mr. Toby." 0 looked down, and discovered that Sarah Birch had broken ranks and was now standing next to him.

"What is it, Sarah?" he asked as they walked. She followed him.

"What're you going to do with that Riolu?"

He chuckled. "I decided I would keep it. I'll be training Lu from now on."

"Who's Lu?"

"That's Riolu's name, Sarah," he explained. "It told me so."

"Wow," she said, her eyes in wonder. "So you can talk to Pokemon. How come?"

He took a deep breath. They were coming up to the exhibits. "Because I love Pokemon, Sarah. They are my friends, my companions, and my strength. And in return, I hope they think I am their friend. And that's why I can talk to them. I listen to them, and they taught me every language." He didn't tell her why he had done so. He had needed to bury himself in work, anything, after he had left.

"Cool."

He smiled. "Well, I'm glad you think that it's cool, Sarah. Now go have fun with your friends." He glanced to the others, who were crowding around the exhibits. "I'm sure they'll think it's weird you think a fossil like me is more interesting than the ones on display."

She shrugged. "I don't care." But she took his advice and rejoined the class. The com-link activated again, and he put his hand to his ear.

"Pi, tell me you're ready."

The mouse laughed, and 0 envisioned the Pikachu's grin. "Too easy, 0. We're in. I'm ready when you are."

"Okay. We can only have five seconds. They'll notice anything longer than that, and even five seconds is cutting it." He glanced around. "There's no sign of the Dark Emerald yet, so standby until we're ready."

"Roger."

"Oh, and Pi?"

"Yes?"

"Any idea for how we can do that trick again? The one with the slowing-time thing?"

"Why?" Pi asked. "Do we need it that badly?"

He nodded. "3 reckons our best bet is to cut the security, slow down time, and switch the gems before anyone else notices. Any ideas how to do it?"

"Not really," Pi admitted. "Can you recall the feelings you had when you and I did it?"

"Uh…" He tried to remember that exact instant. Serena was about to die, Pi was roaring in his head. "Urgency. Panic. Something like that."

"So did I," the Pikachu said. "Maybe it has something to do with the bond Bakaguru mentioned to you. If we sync up our movements, or our emotions, maybe we can recreate the effect. Think we can give it a try?"

"It's worth a shot. Want to count to three?" 0 suggested. Pi agreed.

"One," 0 said.

"Two," Pi replied.

"_Three_," they said together.

0 glanced around. No one was moving, not one was doing anything, in fact. Serena was halfway in mid-laugh with Alexander Anderson, who's upper lip was pointed in an odd fashion that 0 didn't want to think about. It only lasted for a few seconds though and then everyone reverted right back to normal. The class moved into the second room of the exhibit and 0 followed.

"Well," said the ranger, "I guess we know now, don't we? Pi, maintain on standby until I need you."

"Copy," acknowledged the Pokemon. "I will root myself in the system. Five seconds will be more than enough."

Serena glanced back at 0 and winked as she lavishly draped herself along Alexander Anderson, under the impression that the Golden Ranger would feel a pang of jealousy. It failed, for 0's face remained stoic, so she turned right around and began to pet Alexander Anderson's hideous moustache before he began his lecture on the next room, which happened to be filled with a vast amount of bright shiny things that 0 took no notice in.

"There are a multitude of precious gems in the world," Alexander Anderson said and began pacing in front of the students like a waddling drill sergeant, passing occasional glances at Serena. "How many of you have heard of diamonds?" Everyone raised their hands. "How about pearls? We have every kind of gem you could think of here. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires. Even gold and silver. Topaz and amethyst. Look around and enjoy." The entire class swarmed over the displays, but 0 moved towards a specific display in the corner.

The Dark Emerald was on prominent display in a small wreath of other emeralds, but 0 knew enough about precious gems to tell which one it was. The one in the center, it almost looked pitch black, except that it had an ominous green glow to it. "Jackpot," he muttered. "Pi, disable the security system for five seconds. Immediately after, prepare to use the trick."

A moment later, Pi answered, "Security is disabled. On go."

"_Go_."

Time froze again. This time, because 0 and Pi were working in sync, he guessed that it would last longer, but didn't take any chances. He lifted the glass case quickly, the alarm didn't sound, and grabbed the Dark Gem in the center. He shoved it into his pocket and took out the fake gem, putting it right back on the pedestal. He realigned the glass case and stepped right back where he was standing. He somehow released the synchronization with Pi and time reverted back to normal.

He glanced at Serena and nodded when she looked at him. She smiled and proceeded to continue flirting with Alexander Anderson, who was saying something about his fancy villa in the Orange Islands. 0 focused instead on Sarah, who was busy being wowed by the gems on display. She seems so happy, he thought, and absent-mindedly felt the gem in his pocket. It gave him a bad feeling, but at least he had it, and not the terrorists. He would live with that. After some thought, he took out Lu's Poke Ball and put it in another pocket. Lu probably wouldn't want to be in the same place as the Dark Gem. He felt slightly calmer.

Which is why it made it more ironic when, once again, something exploded.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Interestingly enough, it was not 0's first reaction to protect the Dark Gem, something all of his training would have caused him to do. Instead, he made a beeline for Sarah but was intercepted at the right moment by Serena, who grabbed him to make it seem he was protecting her. Making a mental note to thank her later, he threw her to the ground to protect her from the shifts beneath their feet. The ground was starting to convulse.

"Get the kids out of here right now!" 0 ordered. Alexander Anderson, who had been panicking, suddenly remembered that the beautiful Serena was in the room and an act of heroism might be exactly what she'd need to come with him to his villa.

"All visitors follow me immediately to the front of the building!" he called. The screaming children chased after him down the hallway in a mad dash to escape.

"Pi, disable all security cameras on this wing for ten seconds," 0 ordered. "3 and I will get into our goggles so no one will place us here when our Ranger selves show up.

"Done 0," said the Pokemon. "Clear."

0 and Serena switched their clothing using their morphers to the PKM regulation uniforms 0 had had the foresight to demand put there. 0's golden-and-black and Serena's white-and-black PKM uniforms emerged, along with a pair of goggles on both their faces. The goggles completely covered their heads, all their identifying marks. "PKM goggle mode ready. Pi, what are the cameras showing?"

"0, 3, we have a huge problem."

"What kind of problem?" 0 asked.

"That thing that attacked us at the Contest…there are about fifty of them out here!" Pi shouted, a hint of panic in its voice. "They're coming your way! And…"

"And what?" Serena piped in, able to hear their communications now thanks to her goggles. "What else is there?"

"There's something else here. It's like those ranger things, but it's blue!"

"Blue?" 0 gritted his teeth.

"What does that mean?" Serena wondered.

"It means that those black things are just underlings. You could call them Rangerlings, I guess. The blue one will be the one leading them, right Pi?"

"That's what I'm guessing."

"If that's the case, our goggle gear won't be enough. We'll have to morph when they-" He was unable to finish, as the Rangerlings arrived immediately. 0 and Serena assumed a defense stance, but oddly enough the black critters didn't attack instantly. Instead they lined up in an eerily orderly fashion along the sides of the room. "This is just great. I took down one of these no problem, but I don't know if we can handle all of them."

"Don't worry, 0," Serena replied. "These things aren't anywhere near our ranger power level. We shouldn't have a problem. You're inexperienced. You don't know how strong you are."

"Our power level is inferior?"

0 and Serena turned to face the source of the question: a man clad in spandex so blue 0 was certain it was sapphire. The entire costume was sapphire, save for the knee-high boots, long gloves, and square visor, which were black. There was some strange symbol on his chest that they couldn't understand, but that was black too. The ranger looked to the agents and tilted his helmet in interest.

"Didn't you hear me?" he asked, and it sounded almost like a young boy to 0. "What makes you think my friends and I are inferior to you?"

"Pi, are authorities en route?"

"On their way. I will send a transmission telling them to remain out of bounds."

"Keep them busy with keeping the building structure stable and recovering the civilians." To the ranger, 0 growled. "How's about a name, Sappho?" he asked. "Meeting new people and all, the least you could do is give a name."

"Oh yes, how rude of me," he replied. "I don't remember. But I think I'm supposed to be the Dark Sapphire Ranger. You guys must be the people I was sent to fight…wasn't that right?" He began to ramble. "Oh wait, wasn't I supposed to get the Dark Gem? I guess I can kill you both and do that." He giggled and took a step forward. "Why don't you transform? It'll be so much more fun when you become rangers. It'll be a real fight then." He sounded almost excited.

Footsteps echoed along the hallway and 0 almost groaned when he saw the two people who could only make his situation worse: Max and May Birch, who had apparently disregarded any sense of caution and rushed to the room. "Sarah?" May asked. "Honey, where are you?" Max was the first one to notice the mass amounts of evil villains and grabbed his sister.

"May, I think we have bigger problems," he said.

"Idiots!" 0 shouted at them and they noticed the agents. "What're you doing here? Get back to the police right now!"

"My daughter's here somewhere!" May retorted. "Who are you? Where is she?"

"Shut up right now!" the Dark Sapphire Ranger shrieked. "You're May Birch, aren't you?" He glanced at the woman, who had apparently realized the error of her ways, but was nonetheless rather adamant about getting Sarah. "Well, May Birch, this is PKM." He gestured at the two agents. "I'm here to kill them. And take a shiny thing. And, while I'm here, I don't see why I shouldn't kill you. Three birds with one stone. Can't beat that kind of a deal."

"No…" May whispered, as the Dark Sapphire Ranger lunged.

"_Go_!"


	10. Morph 10

**Morph Ten: Synchronization Ignition**

"_Go_!"

Sarah Birch watched in panic as the masked man in goggles vanished, only to reappear right in front of her mother, grappling with the spandex man in sapphire. He had called himself the Dark Sapphire Ranger, whatever that was, and now he was going to attack her mother! Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought to herself. She knew she shouldn't have stayed. But then the bruise on her head annoyed her, and she remembered that she had been knocked down trying to get out with Mr. Toby and the others.

"I won't let you hurt them," the masked man vowed fiercely. "And you're not getting the Dark Gem!" The man spoke with such passion, and such rage, to the evil ranger. Sarah didn't like the look of the bad guy, he and his friends looked like the people who tried to hurt her momma at the Contest. "You hear me, Sappho?"

The Dark Sapphire Ranger seemed indifferent to his name calling. "Nope. Stone deaf at the moment!" he exclaimed cheerfully and twisted the goggle man, forcing him on his back. Goggle-Man recovered, just in time to avoid the bad guy's boot from hitting his back. Sarah bit her lip, determined to keep quiet until she could get to her mom. Goggle-Man leapt to his feet and forced the bad man back, right into the waiting grasp of Goggle-Girl, who helped her partner fight the Dark Sapphire Ranger. The bad guys on the sides did nothing, maybe because they were politely waiting their turn. Sarah wasn't sure, but the man called Sappho didn't seem to mind fighting the both of them and what resulted was some sort of fighting that Sarah had only ever seen before on her Saturday morning cartoons. But Sappho seemed to be beating Goggle-Man and Goggle-Girl, because he hardly seemed to be breaking a sweat. His odd footwork and swaggering style made him look like someone who was dancing, not someone who was fighting. And Goggle-Man and Goggle-Girl couldn't keep up, so both of them were easily tossed to the floor.

"That's pathetic," the bad man murmured to them, wagging his finger in triumph. "Really now, is this the best PKM can offer me? _A bunch of whiny little babies_? Morph now, or I kill you!" Sarah was fairly certain that couldn't be good. Goggle-Man and Goggle-Girl grimaced, but rose to their feet.

"He's right," said Goggle-Man and raised some strange wristwatch that Sarah could have sworn she'd seen somewhere before. "Let's show this idiot how we do things in PKM."

"Thought you'd never ask, sweetheart," Goggle-Girl retorted and lifted her own wristwatch, only hers was white instead of black like Goggle-Man's. "Let's dance with the funny man."

"Ready?"

"Right!"

Both of them pressed a red button on their watches.

_ "Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power!"_

_ "PKM Spirit, Activate!"_

Both Goggle-Man and Goggle-Girl flashed a bright color, golden and white, and two PKM Rangers appeared where they had been standing. Sarah stared at Goggle-Man, who had become the Golden Ranger, in awe. His entire body was armored with tough fabric, covered in muscle and raw strength, decked in golden and black. And then she saw the beauty that was the White Ranger standing beside him. Where the Golden Ranger was gold, the White Ranger was white, down to the little skirt she had added to her uniform. A picture of a water Pokemon, Sarah thought it was a Dewgong, adorned her chest where the Golden Ranger's Pikachu was.

"Pure as the fallen snow," said the White Ranger and struck a dramatic pose too elaborate for Sarah to remember completely. "PKM Agent 3! White Ranger!" As she did this, it almost seemed like it got colder in the room and Sarah's mother and uncle looked up, like they expected snow to fall gracefully from the cracked ceiling.

At this, both the Golden Ranger and the Dark Sapphire Ranger turned to stare at the oddly-posed 3. "What was that?" the Golden Ranger asked, in an entirely incredulous manner.

"What do you mean, 0?" she replied. "That was my battle pose. I do it every time I morph. All rangers do it."

"Are you making fun of me?" Sappho asked with a slight growl. "I don't like being made fun of." He tilted his helmet and snapped his fingers. All of the little black men jumped to attention. Sarah dug herself deeper into hiding.

"Just don't do it anymore!" 0 ordered. "It's incredibly embarrassing."

3 groaned. "Can we please just do this?" 0 nodded and focused again on Sappho, who seemed immensely annoyed at the apparent lack of attention he had been getting. "Download Frost Fan!" 3 ordered and tapped her helmet's right side. A white light formed in 3's gloves, before a white war fan roughly two feet long emerged in her fingers. She opened it, to test its speed, and then sealed it again.

0 tapped his own helmet. "Download Lightning Laser!" he ordered some unknown individual and a large gun formed in his hands, like some of the toy shotguns Sarah had seen some boys her age playing with in parks. 0, however, seemed to be able to wield it with significantly higher proficiency because he spun it around by the trigger, waiting for the bad guy to make his move. Sarah watched the shotgun's twirling in wonder.

"That's not fair," Sappho whined. "I wanna weapon too. Not fair!"

"I don't play fair with terrorists," 0 retorted stubbornly and shouldered his gun. "Ready for round two, dirt bag?" He turned to his partner. "3, get the civilians out of here right now. I'll bring up the rear with any remaining people and the Dark Gem." At this, however, Sappho laughed gleefully, which seemed to irritate 0. "Got a problem with that, Sappho?"

"Oh yes indeed," he replied, almost cheerfully, and dangled something that looked suspiciously like the Dark Emerald from his fingers. "You need to be more careful where you put things, Golden Boy. Anyone could easily pickpocket something like this…" He started to laugh, but didn't really get the chance, as 0 fired a bolt of lightning straight at his visor. He flipped backwards, dodging the attack rather gracefully, but not gracefully enough to stop 0 from charging forward with 3 to reclaim the shiny emerald. This time, though the little black men moved forward to protect their master, forcing the Rangers to fight multiple opponents.

"Rangerlings! Tear them apart!" They howled their approval of their master's order and dove into the fray.

The Lightning Laser swerved and, almost like a sniper, the Golden Ranger laid waste to ten of them in five seconds. At the same time, he swung the shotgun down, knocking down anyone as he moved to protect Sarah's momma and uncle. May was terrified and Max was, despite his immense disadvantage, doing his very best to keep one of the Rangerlings off her, relying on what little fighting prowess he had. Finally, he had enough and summoned both his Gallade and Mightyena to the fray. "Get 'em, guys!" he shouted and they hastened to obey him. Mightyena snarled and clamped its jaws on the nearest Rangerling it could reach, upon which said Rangerling emitted a loud shriek of pain, which ended with a punch to the face from Max, who bruised his knuckles but downed the enemy.

Meanwhile, the beautiful White Ranger wielded her war fan with such proficiency that it might have scared Sarah if 3 wasn't trying to help her. The Dark Sapphire Ranger, once so quick and calm, was becoming more and more erratic. The White Ranger was far more graceful in their dance of death, and the bad guy appeared to be losing. Again and again the war fan struck him, forcing him to hide amidst the Rangerlings, who fared even worse than their leader. 3 was cool and collected, unlike the violent 0, and dodged them all, smashing through the white gem-like thing on their chests, which seemed to have an adverse affect, because they fell down and didn't move after it was broken.

"0!" shouted the beautiful lady to her partner. "Smash the white things on their chests! It's the Rangerlings weak spot!"

"I figured!" he shouted back, and blasted three dead in the chest. They absorbed the majority of the impacts and their chest gems held, so 0 switched to using his ranged weapon as a melee one and smashed at their chests with the gun barrel before unloading a burst of electricity. It seemed to work, because one just exploded in a puff of black smoke. 0 repeated the process on the six closest to him. Sarah noticed that none of the bad guys were waiting around. Everyone was fighting, which made it significantly harder for her uncle and his Pokemon, 0, and 3, to focus on just one opponent. The Rangers definitely did a better job of it, but Uncle Max and his Pokemon held as best they could. One of the Rangerlings was thrown into the air by the Golden Ranger and smashed the glass case that she had been hiding behind. She covered her head as glass rained around her. She felt something bite her hand and noticed she had had been cut by a shard of glass. It hurt and she accidentally cried.

"Momma!" she sobbed. "I hurt myself!"

"Sarah!" May shrieked and finally spotted her daughter. Ignoring anything that stood in her way, her mother rushed for her, and even 0 stopped to stare at her determination. When a Rangerling foolishly decided to get in her way, her mother shoved it out of her way and kept going. The Dark Sapphire Ranger noticed this too, however, and stepped in to stop her.

"Get out of my way," May ordered and put up her fists. Sappho laughed.

"I think not, May Birch," he replied happily and punched her in the face. Her mother dropped like a sack of potatoes. 0 roared in outrage, as did Max, and both rushed towards her defense. But neither got there as quickly as Sarah did. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her hand, the little girl ran up and began to wail on Sappho's leg, for she wasn't tall enough to do much else. Something green fell from his belt and landed in the pile of emeralds scattered on the floor. Sappho looked down and kicked her full in the stomach, downing the daughter like he had her mother.

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"_Go_!"

0 was beyond furious.

The berserk Golden Ranger roared as he lunged at the Dark Sapphire Ranger. Time slowed down and he smashed Sappho right in the face with the Lightning Laser's gun barrel, sending the evil ranger flying into and through the nearest wall. "Pi, analyze and determine life readings," he ordered the Pokemon as he fended off the Rangerlings who were attempting to swarm over Sarah and May's bodies.

"Calculating…" Pi replied. "Both are unconscious. May Birch has head injuries, but nothing life-threatening. Sarah Birch has a broken rib. Both will require medical attention. May is bleeding from her head injury. I'm alerting the authorities outside to send in SWAT teams to recover them and that the paramedics need to be on standby."

"Thank you, Pi." Despite his calm voice, Pi knew 0 was quivering with rage. "Download Bolt Blade!" He wanted to slice these things up. The shotgun digitized itself and vanished from his hands. A golden light exploded and a giant gleaming sword emerged in his hands. 0 glanced down at the black and gold surface of the metal sword, then cleaved a Rangerling in half as if it were a slice of bread. The second one he killed went down painfully, as it refused to simply allow itself to die. First 0 had to slice through its arms to rid it of its defenses, then he sliced it in half from the helmet to the groin. 0 relished the revenge, but kept his head as best he could. He could wail on the Rangerlings all he wanted, but that wasn't going to change that May and Sarah needed medical attention.

"You," he said to Max. "You are related to them, correct?" His mechanical synthesizer made sure that his voice was warped, there would be no chance of Max Birch knowing who was behind 0's golden visor.

"Y-yeah," Max replied. "I'm Max Birch. I'm May's brother."

"I will cover you. They need medical attention immediately or they will die," he explained, as calmly as he could. "Can you get them out of here?"

He nodded. "I can," Max answered.

"Good. They are after one of those emeralds over there. Take one with you and some of the Rangerlings will follow you. SWAT teams will be waiting in ambush, but can you create a diversion?"

"Yes. It'll be dangerous, but I've done dangerous stuff before," Max said. "Mightyena! Gallade! Help me get May and Sarah! We need to get out of here right now!" Both his Pokemon snapped to attention and obeyed without question. Gallade helped 0 fend off the opponents while Max helped load Sarah's body onto Mightyena, before picking up May. "Okay, Golden Ranger, make us an exit!"

"Roger," 0 replied. He rammed through the remnants of the Rangerlings still attacking and, with much gusto, used the gigantic Bold Blade to cleave a path for Max, Mightyena, and Gallade to get through. "Go! Don't look back, and don't come back!"

"Got it!" Max charged through the room and managed to evade the Rangerlings long enough to get out of ranger. 0 watched them leave, then turned his attention to helping 3 clear up the rest of the Rangerlings. He sliced open one behind her and joined her.

"Having fun?" he asked.

"You sure know how to show a lady a good time," she replied. "Next time, I want to go to the park for a date."

"Don't count on it," he answered. "Sappho will be back soon and I don't think the little freak's going to be happy."

And, as usual, 0 hated when he was right. The Dark Sapphire Ranger burst through the already weakened west wall he'd been punched through and even thought he wore a visor he still gave off the aura of someone incredibly angry. What made this situation worse was the fact that he was closer to the Dark Emerald, as he stood right next to the pile of fallen gems.

"Rangerlings, distract them!" he ordered with glee and the last five drove 0 and 3 back.

"We've got to get to that gem!" 0 groaned and sliced through two of the Rangerlings at once. Sappho inspected the pile and found the one he was looking for. He then exclaimed in triumph and jumped up and down with happiness.

"I'm on it!" 3, because she was apparently much more limber then 0 was, ran to the wall and kicked off it, soaring over the last three Rangerlings to go fight Sappho. 0, in the meantime, took advantage of the fact that the Rangerlings stupidly chose to stop and watch 3 soar over them by cleaving all three through their chests. They fell in unison and 0 charged towards Sappho to defeat him.

"3, duck!" 0 swung the behemoth Bold Blade horizontally, and the White Ranger did the splits to avoid it. Sappho, however, seemed pretty confident in himself and took the full blunt of the blade. 0 felt satisfaction as the sword's sharp end smashed into Sappho and sent him flying. Then, he felt confusion, because Sappho picked himself right back up and dusted off his spandex like nothing had happened.

"Wait, why didn't the idiot get sliced and diced like the rest of them?" 3 asked.

Sappho seemed genuinely offended. "How dare you compare me to these trinkets?" he asked in a heightened voice. "My Dark Gem is a sapphire. Those onyx class freaks can't compare to someone of my magnificence." He grinned and held up the Dark Emerald. "See? Told you I was brilliant!" He didn't even stick around to kill them. He bolted for the exit and disappeared.

"He's going outside," 0 said.

"There are civilians outside," answered the White Ranger.

"If I might make a suggestion," said Pi, who had been working the whole time, "why not take the Zero Cycle? I can download it with your confirmation."

"Let's hope my Driver's Ed paid off," 0 replied with a grin. "Download the Zero Cycle!" Instantly, the Bolt Blade vanished and the Zero Cycle emerged, its engine primed and ready for its owner. Without hesitation, 0 boarded the machine and activated it. "3, get on, and hold on." She obeyed him without question and disengaged her Frost Fan so she could keep a better grip. 0 revved the engine. It roared and 0 kicked it off. The motorcycle tore through the room and to the outside world, where it exploded out of the doors and down the stairs into the streets.

0 located the nearest police officer. "Where did the guy in blue go?" he demanded. The cop, far too terrified to lie to the Golden Ranger, pointed down the eastern road.

"He killed two of my men and took off in a police car!"

"Thank you." 0 revved the engine and took off again, this time racing through the streets.

"3, what do you think is the best way to track Sappho?" 0 asked, as he zoomed through the hole in the police barricade the Dark Sapphire Ranger had created. He kept going straight, right into the now-oncoming traffic.

"Are you crazy?" she shrieked and held on for dear life. "Slow this thing down!"

"Guess you forgot," 0 muttered and merged into the right lane. "Bakaguru designed this thing without breaks to increase optimum speed. Pi, what are our best bets?"

"The Dark Sapphire Ranger is being tailed by a few news crews. I'll hack into their signal and trace where he's going. For now, follow the accidents." Pi was referring to the vast amount of damage Sappho had taken the time to do as he zipped through the wrong lanes. The Dark Sapphire Ranger was a good driver, but 0 was even better. He took the fastest lanes, used the super speed of the Zero Cycle to leap over wrecks with wheelies, and followed the bread crumbs Sappho had left. "Got it. He's heading to the intercity lines between North Petalburg and Petalburg City. Turn south here. It'll be faster than following his route."

"Copy." 0 swerved and turned with pinpoint accuracy. Multiple cars honked, but no collateral damage resulted, as 0 pivoted the Zero Cycle right into oncoming traffic. "Upload the best possible map into the visor's map." After a few moments, the visor's screen changed into something from a video game. 0 saw arrows and signals from Pi's coordinates displayed in real time with the street, which even calculated the best lanes to be in to compensate for any traffic. "Thanks." He accelerated.

"You guys are really getting the hang of this," 3 grumbled.

0 laughed. "What happened to the exciting and dangerous 3 I know?" he retorted and merged into the left lane.

"You know damn well I only get excited in the bedroom!"

"I knew no such thing," he answered and pushed the Zero Cycle to its optimum speed purely to spite her as he turned left and found himself directly in the route of the annoying Dark Sapphire Ranger. They were right behind him. "Pi, does this thing have nitro?" 3 screamed in protest.

"It'll be located right next to the nozzle," it explained. "A little red button."

"Good," said the Golden Ranger. "And what weapons do we have equipped to this thing?"

"Machine gun turrets mounted to the front of the vehicle. The activation button will be a black switch next to the nitro booster."

"Hang on, 3!" 0 shouted and punched the nitro booster. 3 shrieked as the world became a massive great blur. Cars seemed insignificant, but thanks to Pi's help, 0 avoided every last one. They passed the insane police car.

"We passed him, you nitwit!" 3 shouted at him and dug her hands deeper into his stomach. "Do something!"

"Okay!" 0 performed what had to be the most insane stunt he could think of: a high-speed U-turn, which would result in skid marks on the street that the city would spend many months attempting to clean. 0 switched off the nitro and activated the machine gun turrets, blasting the squad car to bits. 0 didn't waver his guns, and the end result was that the squad car came to a screeching halt mere feet away from the rangers.

Then the Dark Sapphire Ranger exploded out of the car and 0 leveled him with bullets. Sappho fell, and the rangers didn't move from the vehicle. "Pi, activate my loudspeaker system," 0 ordered.

"Done."

"This is PKM," 0 broadcast to the Dark Sapphire Ranger. "Stand down immediately, or we will continue the barrage. In a few moments, we will be taking you into custody. Hand over the Dark Emerald now."

"What is he doing!"

The Dark Sapphire Ranger rose, right as rain, the Dark Emerald clutched in one hand, a scimitar in the other. "You think a little bit of bullet rain is gonna break me, suckers!" He cackled again and swung his sapphire scimitar. "I have the unbreakable body! I can't be touched by the likes of you weaklings!" He slashed his sword through the air and skipped to one of the passerby civilians that happened to be standing around. "But these people? Oh no. They're quite vulnerable. Watch!" He slashed his sword down and it stuck into the arm of the woman, who shrieked in agony. "Let's see how much of a pincushion I can make of her!"

"_Go_!"

This time, however, the activation was different. Some kind of gauge emerged at the side of the screen, timing him. He didn't really notice it, he was much too focused on stopping Sappho from cutting the girl again. She was already bleeding heavily. He smashed Sappho to the ground before the gauge emptied and the scimitar was removed. He collected the girl, and passed her to who looked like her father. "Look after her." The father nodded and shouted for someone to call the hospital.

"Pi, did you see that gauge?" 0 asked.

"Yeah. Something's happening with the suit's programming."

"What?"

As if to answer his question, the visor did indeed change. A new display, located on the bottom of the screen, started forming and charging itself. "_Synchronization Drive activated. Charging up_." At this, 0 grew confused. That hadn't been Pi speaking.

"What's a Synchronization Drive?" 0 asked.

"No idea," answered Pi. "Try using it when the gauge is full."

"Roger," he said, then turned to 3. "3, help me buy some time!"

"For what?" 3 asked, though she jumped straight into the fray to fight Sappho.

"Don't know!" he shouted. "Just do it!"

Both of them struck against Sappho, forcing him back. The Dark Sapphire Ranger struck back, but the tough fabric of 0's ranger uniform prevented any significant damage from occurring. "How many bruises do you want, Golden Boy?" the Dark Sapphire Ranger asked. "I can cut them for you now and save the trouble!" He retrieved his scimitar and resumed his onslaught.

"Just enough to get this!" 0 retorted. 3 ducked beneath him and Sappho and in one swift motion grabbed the Dark Emerald. Sappho shrieked and threw his sword downwards. 0 shoved 3 out of the way and grunted. The sword sliced through his armor, right into his shoulder. 0 gasped in pain and Sappho shivered with pleasure. "Now you're in trouble." He grabbed the sword's blade and kept it inside his shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"_Synchronization Drive charged_," said the mysterious dark voice. "_Producing options_." The gauge transformed into two choices: Agility or Volt Tackle. 0 smiled through his pain and started to laugh himself.

"What's so funny, Golden Boy?" Sappho demanded and drove the sword deeper.

"Let's find out what this baby can do!" He activated it. "Synchronization Drive: Volt Tackle!"

"What're you babbling about-" Sappho stopped taunting and shrieked in agony. 0 groaned as a vast amount of electricity burst through his body and conducted itself through the metallic sword. Sappho's screams were unbearable, but 0 didn't really notice them on account that he was experiencing the worst electric shock he had ever had. After years of being shocked by Pi, he had expected immunity from the pain at this point. But this was different: his body was _creating_ the electricity, and it was ripping through him. He roared in agony and vaguely heard someone shouting at him.

Both rangers experienced an equal amount of pain and finally the area around them exploded in an electrical storm. 0 was thrown away from the blast radius like a rag doll. He heard 3 scream and someone was supporting him. He glanced dimly around. The Dark Sapphire Ranger was gone.

What had happened?

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Serena Brine panicked. Never before had she seen anything like what her partner had just done. She lowered the ranger's body onto the alley's pavement gingerly, not wanting to hurt him any more then he had already been. Her analysis had told her that he was still alive, but his heartbeat was irregular from the electric exposure. She patched herself into 0's link to talk to Pi. She glanced around but no one disturbed them.

"Pi? You have any idea what's going on?" she asked.

"We're…okay…" it replied, its voice ragged. "Just…he's gonna be out for a while… He's awake…just in constant pain"

"Do you have any idea what happened?" she asked.

"Can't be sure. He activated something called a Synchronization Drive. Do you know what that is?"

She shook her head. "We should probably return to our civilian forms and get home." She deactivated her ranger uniform and Pi did the same for 0. His shoulder wound looked pretty bad, and she gasped when she saw it. "We can't take him to a hospital. I'll need to get him home and use the first aid gear."

"Will it be enough?" Pi asked.

She smirked. "He's been through a lot. He can handle something like this." She lifted the hulking 0, which was impressive, since she was dwarfed by her partner's size. The little ranger huffed and headed for the street, where she hailed a cab. After a minute, one pulled over.

"Where to, lady?" the cab driver asked.

"My husband had a little too much to drink," she explained and shook 0 to prove it. 0's gigantic coat hid his still-bleeding wound, and she shoved him into the backseat. "Can you take us to the gym? Our apartment is right across from it." The cabbie started the meter and pulled away from the curb, heading for the gym.

Serena fingered the Dark Emerald in her pocket. It was spooky, sure, but at least they had gotten it. But then she looked at 0. The color in his face was gone, and she was pretty sure that wound in his shoulder was going to kill him if she didn't do something quickly. Fortunately, the cab ride took less time then she expected. For some reason, people didn't feel like driving, so most of the streets were empty. They stopped ten minutes later, which felt like an eternity to Serena, who thanked the cabman by tossing the money she owed and hauling 0 out of the car as quickly as she could.

She took the elevator to their room and slammed the door shut. Before she took care of 0, she locked the door to make certain she wouldn't be bothered and lowered 0 onto her mattress. "Pi, I'm turning on my laptop so you can watch and surf the net." She flipped open the computer, and Pi's worried face appeared on the screen. "I'll go get the first aid kit." She retreated to the kitchen, where she located the kit and returned to 0's side. She stripped him of his shirt and his coat and he groaned loudly.

The wound wasn't infected, but it was deep. The sword had sliced quite neatly into some of the muscle and tissue, drawing a steady amount of blood that had begun to clot. In addition, the electricity had taken an even more severe injury. She pressed onto the wound, and the ranger grunted in agony. The bleeding stopped, and Serena thanked whatever Legendary Pokemon that looked after 0 that his shoulder injury was minimal. The problem was the electricity that was still running rampart through his body.

"I don't know what to do Pi." Serena's voice was shaky and hesitant. She bandaged the wound as best she could and turned to the mouse on the computer. "Pi, what can I do?" she asked. "I don't know what to do!" Her face was warm and her eyes hurt from the tears she was trying to hide.

Pi was even worse off, and regretted the fact that it could not even touch 0. "Wait," it said and looked to the White Ranger. "What about short-circuiting him?"

"What?" she asked and rubbed her eyes.

"If we put him in some water, the electricity tearing his systems apart should short out and stop," Pi explained. "He used to do it to me when we had solar flares."

"You want me to…put him in the tub?" For a moment, the seriousness of the situation evaporated and she grinned. "Sure… I can do that…"

"Serena, please!" Pi scolded. "Now is not the time to be thinking like-"

Serena closed the laptop and headed straight for the bathroom. The apartment was simplistic, and so was their bathtub, which was little more then a man-sized sink with some extra faucets. She started the water, and warmed it up to a nice temperature. When the tub was filled halfway, she shut off the water and turned to the hulking, groaning mass that was her partner. He was already half-naked, so she slipped off his boots and his pants. He murmured something, she couldn't make it out, and she dragged him to the bathtub. She shut down everything electronic in the apartment, knowing that something bad was probably going to happen the moment she put him into contact with water.

"Don't worry, big guy," she whispered to him. "Serena's gonna make you all better." If he heard her, he didn't acknowledge it, but apparently very grateful for the fact that he had been allowed to keep his underwear on, because he didn't fight her, not that he really could. She stood him up as best she could and helped him into the tub, moving away the moment his skin touched the water.

The water started hissing, and Serena noticed crackling electricity running down 0's muscles. It should have burned him, but it didn't. A scraping sound echoed from him, and he screamed loudly. For a moment, Serena lifted her eyes to stare at him writhing, but knew that if she touched him she would die. Then, the light abruptly stopped and 0 started coughing loudly. Serena approached him, but kept her distance.

"A-are you okay?" she asked him.

"S-serum," 0 groaned. "And alcohol. Now."

"I really don't think those are going to-"

"Now!" His voice was hoarse and she didn't dare disobey him. "In my jacket."

She retreated to where his blood-stained jacket was and retrieved the already-loaded syringe and a beer from the fridge. She placed them on the floor near him so he could reach the materials, as she wasn't sure whether the water was still electrically-charged. After what appeared to be an extensive struggle with his muscular system, his arm slunk down and grabbed the needle. He drove it into his skin immediately and shot himself full of the dark blue liquid. He groaned in satisfaction and smiled.

"T-thank you, 3," he muttered and grabbed the beer. "I'll be alright now." He drank heavily from the bottle and soon finished it. "Okay, that's better." He got out of the tub, thought he was shaking, then simultaneously realized that he was almost naked and that Serena was standing directly in front of him with a facial expression that was rapidly becoming dangerous.

"3, could you look away while I find some clothes?" he asked. Serena's stunt with the bathtub had gotten him dripping wet. He was wearing only a torn shred of underwear that barely managed to cover him. He stepped out of the bathtub, but slipped on some of the water that had split out of the tub during his thrashing episode and accidentally fell.

Serena grinned and her instincts took over as she allowed him to fall on her, in an effort to make it seem as thought she was just trying to help him. 0's gigantic body was crushing, but warm at the same time, especially since she wasn't wearing the maximum amount of clothing for the weather outside.

"Ow," she grumbled and rubbed her head. She then noticed that she was staring at him. His long black hair was draped over the majority of his face, but she could still see the hardened line that Serena had long since learned to distinguish as his lips. "Hey, 0?"

"Yeah?" For some reason, she thought his voice sounded significantly deeper and throatier then normal.

She kissed him. It was just for a moment, but in the moment their lips touched, her heart soared. "That's for saving me," she said and felt a slight tingle creep on her face, which was nothing compared to the blush on 0's face, which had transformed it into something resembling a cherry.

0 stood up immediately and used his wristwatch to change into his PKM uniform, which was better then lying on Serena almost naked. "Uh…you're welcome," he replied and did not look her directly in the eyes. He removed the goggles and sat down at the table, where he put the headgear. "So…" He appeared quite flustered from her gesture. "Can I take a look at the Dark Gem?"

She nodded. "Of course," she replied and produced the near-black gem. 0 took it, but dropped it almost immediately.

"3, is this the gem you took from the Dark Sapphire Ranger?" he asked. "Are you absolutely certain?"

She nodded. "It's the only one he had."

He looked up and groaned. "This isn't the Dark Emerald."

"_What?_"

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"Don't worry, Mr. Birch," the doctor said with a smile. "I'm certain that both your sister and niece will be fine. A few hours sleep, and I promise they'll be right as rain."

"Thank you," Max replied and boarded the ambulance that Sarah and May were going to be traveling in. His parents were going to be meeting them at the hospital, he had just called them to let them know what had happened. They were shocked and his father Norman had almost gone for his gun rack to go deal with the Dark Sapphire Ranger himself when he heard what had happened to his daughter and grandchild, but persuasion from Max had kept the retired gym leader from going on a vigilante streak. Still, as he sat next to the unconscious bodies of Sarah and May, he wasn't quite sure why he himself hadn't stayed with the Golden and White Rangers and fought.

His hand curled up into a fist. Inside that fist was a very small, but very noticeable, emerald.

Unknown to Max, the Dark Emerald began to pulsate as it bonded itself to its newest host. However, by the time they arrived at the hospital, the fusion was complete, and Max thought he could hear someone laugh as he put the emerald back into his pocket.


	11. Morph 11

**Morph Eleven: Serena's Heart Blossoms**

"Wow," 0 breathed. Descending from the stairs was his date for the evening: the luscious Serena, who had apparently gone all out for the gala event. Her silver hair, tucked up in a bun, glistened in the light of the apartment complex. Her attire could not have been more stunning, a glittering white dress that seemed to be made of pure snow. Upon her neck shone a diamond necklace that he had never before seen her wear, with gems of gargantuan proportions. The dress itself, while not too short and not too long, was quite alluring, with a slit on the side that wandered casually up to her hip. Her heels were perfect for her and hardly raised her height, possibly because she was expecting him to dance with her. Her radiant eyes glowed through the slight bangs she had kept slanted over a small piece of her small face. Her morpher was cleverly hidden with the combination of a matching purse and a truly wondrous bracelet.

"Coming from you," she said and licked her rosy lips, "that's a compliment." She daintily walked over to him and 0 was unable to locate the rough, but irritating woman that Serena often was to him. This creature that stood before him was like a goddess that had descended from the heavens for the sole purpose of going with him to the gala event. Dumbfounded, 0 had little choice but to play the role of the gentleman he was resigned to for the evening and helped the lady onto his noble steed: the motorcycle, taking care that not an inch of her dress was disrupted. "Thank you."

"N-not at all," 0 stammered and felt rather underdressed for the occasion. True, he was wearing the suit that she had requested him to wear: black with a golden tie, and his clothing was immaculate, as he had not found a single trace of neither lint nor hair on the fabric. He had combed his hair in an effort to tame it, and had failed miserably, the attempt resulting in a half-controlled wild mane of ebony on his head. He applied his helmet to his head and offered the second to Serena, who declined it due to her elaborate transformation. Steadily, as though carrying a priceless glass heirloom, 0 piloted the motorcycle through the streets of Petalburg. Fortunately, the majority of the traffic had died down for the day, which made navigation much easier than he had expected. And, with additional assistance from Pi, he found the quickest route with the least traffic.

When they arrived, a spectacle befell them. The hotel in which the ball was to be held, the finest in Petalburg, was packed with traffic, mostly the large cars of various celebrities in attendance and the paparazzi blockade. 0 slowed his motorcycle to a standstill. "3, what is this?" he asked.

She giggled, and held him tighter. "It's a gala event," she explained. "You've been to tons of them, why are you surprised by this one?"

"I've never had to go to one through the front door," he replied, and scooted the motorcycle a few feet to adjust to the traffic flow. "What are all these reporters doing here?" Never before had he seen such a gathering of people taking photographs and asking questions, not even in the days of his own celebrity status. He had always been a rather private individual.

"Oh, they're here to dish out the latest rumors and gossip," she muttered casually, but 0 sensed a tone of voice in her that suggested interest. "As long as you don't talk to them, I think they'll leave us alone. You have a little fame as Keean Toby, and no one expects, well, _you_, to show up to anything." She chuckled and fanned herself as they neared the red carpet at the front. "The valet will take the motorcycle from us when we reach the carpet. Don't strangle him."

"I wasn't going to," he retorted. "I do know a little bit about gentlemanly behavior, 3." To prove this, he very gallantly drove the motorcycle to a stop in front of the red carpet and avoided the blinding flashes of a million cameras by turning his back to them and shielding Serena from them. He took her hand and she lifted herself from the bike. 0 removed his helmet and looked towards the valet, a young boy who stood several inches shorter than the giant 0, and smiled.

He leaned towards the valet and handed over his helmet and a set of keys. "If I find a single scratch on the side of this vehicle," he said, his lips still a smile, "it would end rather badly for you." He chuckled, but the boy found little to laugh at and hurriedly drove the motorcycle away into the parking lot. 0 smirked at Serena's scowl and took her arm to stride down the red carpet.

"Sir, who are you?" asked a reporter. 0 ignored him.

Another one shouted, "Mr. Toby," recognizing his face, "who's the lady?"

The questioning continued on and on as they headed down the carpet, but neither 0 nor Serena paid any attention to the prodding paparazzi, focused on not stepping over one another and tripping. Serena glanced at him, almost as if she was uncertain if it was truly 0 she was with, or some oddity who happened to look exactly like him but a thousand times more charismatic, charming, and handsome. He pushed the idea out of his mind and brought her into the hotel, leaving behind the harassing reporters and annoying journalists. The golden arches of the hotel bid them welcome as they proceeded into the main banquet hall, where the gala event would take place.

They stopped by the registration desk, where 0 pointedly filled out their identities for the evening: Keean Toby and Serena Brine. He received their nametags and applied hers before he even touched his own, flattering her with a smile. "Shall we?" he asked and offered her his arm yet again. This time, she took it instantly and allowed him to lead her into the ballroom, whereupon it happened that numerous guests were already inside. He scanned the room for anything suspicious and, finding nothing, proceeded to the table where they were to sit. He had braced himself for what he would find there. He was absolutely certain he would be ready for it.

They were already seated when 0 and Serena arrived at the table. There were a few more added guests to the party then 0 had been expecting. For one, a fox-eyed man was quite busy in conversation with a vicarious orange-headed tomboy next to him, who had apparently spared no expense to deck herself out for the evening. A young woman with natural blue hair sat next to a man with green locks, engaged in rapid-fire conversation about Contest moves. Two elders sat patiently, observing the young. But 0 took one glance at the table's final two members, and knew that all his preparation had been for naught.

She was stunning, no other word could describe her. Unlike Serena, whose beauty was more overtly apparent, May Birch contained within her a strange inner sense of grace and loveliness, like a rose before it blooms. She wore a long red gown, and 0 almost tripped over himself when he saw it. Her hands were covered in black silk gloves and her face had just the slightest, but perfect, shade of makeup. Serena stared at her as if viewing a long-awaited rival.

The happy little girl on May's right was quite bubbly indeed, for she wore a delicate little sundress that made 0's heart ache. Her hair was no longer in pigtails, but was long and flowing down her back. Sarah was her mother in miniature, true, but 0 sensed enough in the little girl to know that somewhere inside her lay the instincts of another. He smiled, and attempted to control himself as he and his date approached the table.

"Mr. Birch," he said, acknowledging the gym leader seated at the far end of the table. "Thank you for inviting my lady and me out this evening." Max smiled and rose from his chair. 0 thought he caught something glittering on Max's cufflink, but decided he was imagining things and forgot about it.

"Keean Toby," the leader said with a smile. "Glad you guys could come. Any friend of May's is a friend of mine." He turned to Serena and smiled politely. "And you must be Ms. Serena Brine. Keean's told us so much about you."

"He has?" she asked, taking the handshake she was offered. "What has he been saying, exactly?" She looked to 0 with a raised eyebrow, and smirked. 0 knew that he was in for a rough night at home when the ball ended.

"Nothing but good things," Max assured Serena, and pointed them to seats at the table. "Keean, why don't you help Ms. Brine to her seat?" 0 did as requested and pulled out the White Ranger's seat for her. She smiled charmingly at him, and scooted the seat in herself. Her date took the seat next to her.

"Mr. Toby," said May, with a friendly smile. "We meet again."

"Indeed," 0 concurred. "You must stop stalking me. It cannot be healthy for you." She laughed at his joke and he remembered how much he loved the sound of her voice.

She turned to the man on her left and tapped him on the shoulder. "Drew, you've met Mr. Toby, right?" she asked. The coordinator looked to the Golden Ranger and nodded.

"I think we've met somewhere before," he replied, remembering Saffron City. "How've you been, Keean?" He offered his hand and 0 cautiously accepted it. "I'm playing the role of show pony tonight for May here." May playfully punched his shoulder in response and he feigned a wince.

"I'm in the same boat, Drew," 0 said, and gestured to Serena. "May, this is my…girlfriend." May nodded and happily held out her hand. Serena looked at the hand like a glass of poisoned wine, but reluctantly took it. 0 picked up the water in front of him for something to drink.

"He means lover," she clarified and 0 gagged on the aforementioned water. May's, and indeed the entire dinner table's eyes, grew roughly two sizes. 0 felt two sharp smacks on his back and was able to successfully swallow the water. He turned to thank whoever helped him, and found himself face to face with Sarah Birch.

"Hello, Mr. Toby!" she said enthusiastically. "When're you coming back to my class to teach? We wanna see Lu again."

0 chuckled. "Aren't you happy with your normal teacher?" he asked. "Lu's busy tearing a hole in my wallet with all the punching bags it goes through. Gets stronger every day." This was greeted by general laughter from the majority of the table, save for the elder Birches, who looked towards 0 with slight discontent.

"Back in our day, we weren't as bold as to do those things," Norman murmured to his wife.

"And we didn't brag about them," she agreed.

"Let's change the subject," Brock Harrison suggested, and this course of action was agreed on by most of the table's membership. "Keean, tell me more about that trick I saw you do with the Pokemon language. I've been very interested in talking to you about that."

"Really?" 0 asked.

Brock nodded. "When I was younger, I used to travel a lot and I kept meeting this one Meowth that could speak in the human language. I always wondered if anyone had ever done the reverse of that. How'd you learn how to do it?"

"It's…really simple," 0 began. "Well, for me it was. You just need to get in tune with your Pokemon, and eventually you can figure out the basic speaking patterns for each kind of Pokemon. All of their language is based on a similar grammar and dialect scheme, so if you can figure out one, you can pretty much figure out most of them." This information flew right over the heads of most of the people at the table. "It's very complicated, but that's the basic explanation."

"He means you have to trust the Pokemon," Sarah translated, "and the Pokemon might trust you." Everyone got it after that and 0 wondered why he had had to teach Sarah's class when the little girl could make more sense out of his speeches then he could. He disregarded this thought instantly, as the sound of music filled his ears.

"The band is playing," he muttered absent-mindedly and felt a sharp kick to his leg. He ignored the pain and stared at Serena in astonishment. She responded by playing coy.

"What?" she asked and shot him with a concentrated dose of puppy-dog eyes.

He knew what she wanted, and sighed. "Would you like to dance?"

With the acting skill of a true thespian, Serena feigned a look of surprise to him. "Why Keean Toby, you cad," she squealed. "I didn't know you could dance." She took the hand he offered her and noticed that his lips had returned to their natural position of a thin line.

"Oh, I'd like to dance too," said May and looked to Drew, who retorted with an expression that gave her the impression that he thought she was out of her mind.

"I can't dance, May." An expression of regret for not having thought of that excuse flashed across 0's face. May looked disgruntled, but not for long, as Drew looked toward 0 with a twinkle in his eyes. "Hey, Keean," he said, "think you can show my lady a good time on the dance floor? I have two left feet."

_ Your lady?_ 0 glanced at Serena, who looked like she would kill him if he did not pick her, then glanced at May, who had a very interested look on her face. "Uh," he said to buy time, "I think that I should dance with my girlfriend before anyone else." May's expression showed she was briefly disgruntled, but then she bounced back with a smile.

"Maybe later," she said and turned to her father. "How about you, Dad?"

Before 0 could hear the remainder of the conversation, Serena began dragging him through the crowded room in the direction of the dance floor. Figuring that nothing could possibly be done to repeal his upcoming punishment, 0 resigned himself to being led onto the floor. The music was in the air indeed, but 0 didn't feel like dancing. Serena on the other hand didn't seem to care about his misgivings, because she clamped one of his hands on her shapely hip and gripped the other in her vice-like claw. 0 felt her other hand on his back and then had to swerve to avoid Serena's heels digging into his polished shoes. So this was how she intended to have him dance, he thought, and complied. Several people took notice of their dancing style which, while erratic, somehow seemed to meld perfectly with the orchestra's performance.

"What's this about, 3?" he asked.

She fumed, and threw a sharp kick at him. He tossed his leg out just in time, thankfully avoiding hitting a large woman in the rump dancing beside them. A slight circle began to form around them.

0 tolerated this for a while, but after her sixth jab at his legs he had had enough. He twirled her quickly, and forced her to follow through with the motion, at the same time kicking her in the back of her kneecaps. Serena grunted as she began to fall, but twisted a sharp kick his way that he jumped over. The circle widened and, when Serena righted herself, she grinned vicariously at her opponent. All eyes seemed to follow the mismatched couple who, for completely different reasons, desired nothing more than to show up the other.

And yet, 0 thought as he began this strange dance of death, he could not help but wonder how he had gotten mixed up in such a confusing triangle of emotions.

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**_…One Week Earlier…_**

Serena had been watching his behavior for weeks. Every morning, 0 would return from his nightly excursions and begin drinking. Oddly enough, she never saw him eat anything, which she guessed had something to do with the serum that he would inject himself with every other day. She made a mental note to one day ask him about the serum as she watched him move through his morning routine. Soon, she knew, he would go off to the rooftop with his Riolu to train it. The Riolu was slowly becoming fairly powerful from what he told her about it.

But, while he did all these things, Serena Brine thought about the kiss.

While her partner worked hard to better his physical abilities, Serena spent a large amount of time on her laptop working. And, while working, she was prone to distraction just like anyone else who spent the majority of their time working. Her most recent vice was a website devoted to romance fiction of all tastes and genres, and she had been pulled rather hard into some of the more explicit fiction revolving around young, petite women and the rugged men who loved them. It related so very much to the way her own life had turned out, and it was very difficult for Serena to stop picturing herself in the role of the young, inexperienced lady and the Golden Ranger as the powerful, yet gentlemanly, warrior. Oh, the pleasures she received from it were immense, and since 0 operated in the fashion of an incredibly efficient robot the majority of the time, such fantasies could be made reality during the hours she knew he'd be gone.

However, today was not one of those days, as 0 apparently had plans that deviated from his standard day. Lately, she had been noticing that he had been staring at the phone a lot. She hadn't thought much of it until today, as he now held up a small card, which Serena was fairly certain had a number on it. Whose she wasn't quite sure. 0 didn't have any interaction with other people she wasn't aware of; she grilled Pi after each of their nights out to make sure. The mouse maintained that no one had even spoken to 0, but refused to divulge anything else of what they did. Serena guessed they were trying to track down the elusive Dark Sapphire Ranger, who hadn't appeared for some time.

I guess whatever he did must have took a good chunk out of that thing, she thought as she dreamingly gazed at him. To her, 0 was the exemplar of human perfection: loyal as a dog Pokemon, strong as a Legendary and, perhaps more importantly, had the body to quench the deep drought she had been going through since being assigned to work with him. Normally a partner would have folded for her within two days, tops. 0 had lasted weeks, with no signs of ending his embargo. She was impressed, more than impressed.

If she didn't know any better, she would have thought she was in love with 0.

She laughed at the notion, which prompted one of 0's many confused looks in her direction. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Not at all," she replied sweetly, and flashed him a smile. He grunted and resumed his staring contest with the phone. She sighed and rolled over onto the tatami floor. "Hey, 0?"

"Yes?" he said, but did not move his gaze.

She pointed at the card. "Who gave you that?"

He lifted the card to study it, like it was the first time he had bothered to examine it. "May did," he answered. "I've been trying to decide if I should call her."

A pang of jealously, which Serena interpreted as irritation, shot through her abdomen. "Do whatever you want," she said casually.

"That's just it," he said and looked up. "I want to call her, but what if it compromises my cover? I…don't think she'll want to see…well…_me_." She thought she heard sadness in his voice, something that did not fit with her fantasy for him. She stood up and decided that it would be a great time to take a bath.

"Geez…" she murmured and started to fan herself. "Now that winter's ending, it just seems like it's getting hotter." She looked down on him, and her grin widened. "Hey, wanna take a bath together? I can wash your back…" She purred, but did not touch him.

"No thanks," he said. "I can wash my own back."

She pretended to fume, the second stage of the operation, then sniffed at the air. Something rank was in the apartment, and she was fairly certain it was not the Poke Ball in 0's pocket. "But you stink," she coughed and waved the scent away from her nose. "When was the last time you bathed?"

"Um…" It was a good question, 0 could be really absent-minded about stuff like that. "I think yesterday. Could have been the day before." Upon saying this, he found himself kicked in the head by Serena, whose face displayed absolute disgust.

"Get in the bath right now you deranged animal!" she ordered. "Or I _will_ march you in there like a child and scrub every inch of your filthy body!" Her eyes blazed with a fury that she was certain that 0 had only ever seen in the eyes of his mother.

As if unsure if she spoke the truth, 0 lifted his arm to sniff at his armpit, which did indeed confirm that his scent could be used to kill small rodents. He made a face, but composed himself. "Perhaps a small bath wouldn't kill me," he admitted and rose. "Don't follow." His gaze was stern and Serena batted her eyelashes at him.

"Who? Me?" she asked innocently, in a tone that 0 scoffed at. "Don't worry, dear, I would never do something like that." Inwardly, her brain wired her in the direction of bypassing his request. 0 gave her a final look, and then moved towards the shower, dead bolting the door to ensure she could not disturb him. Serena cackled and decided that today would be the day she tested her new, personal security system. She opened her laptop and opened the camera that she had strategically positioned right above the shower for maximum viewing pleasure.

"Serena." Pi's voice entered the laptop. "You shouldn't be doing that."

"Pipe down, Pi," she retorted stubbornly. "This is better than anything I could ever find on the internet." 0 was slowly undressing, almost as if he knew he was being watched. He tossed down his shirt, but oddly kept his back to the camera. Serena knew why, since she could see a few of the scars he had on his shoulders. His rippling torso remained a mystery to Serena, but she more than accepted the tradeoff. He slipped off his jeans almost casually and exposed his powerful leg muscles. Serena began to drool slightly as she took in his lower back and upper thighs and cursed the fact that 0 still had his boxers on.

"Serena." Pi once again disturbed her viewing. "I would seriously stop."

"Pipe down!" It was too exciting. Serena trembled with anticipation, in eagerness, as 0 started to grab his boxers. "Here comes to good stuff. Come on…" Then, without warning, 0 looked up directly at the camera and Serena panicked.

"Pi," he said. "Do it."

"I warned you," the Pikachu said sadly and obeyed its partner. Serena's camera changed and, instead of the Herculean perfection that was 0's body, she found herself face to face with an empty shower.

"What's this?" she asked suspiciously. All of a sudden, a behemoth entered the bathroom and Bakaguru himself grinned meekly at the camera before he began to rip off all of his clothes, exposing the flab concealed beneath his lab gear. Serena screamed in horror and closed the computer before anything else could show up. She heard laughter from the bathroom and rushed towards it with the intention of knocking down the door and killing her partner in cold blood. But he had installed a new lock system to make sure she wouldn't get in, so she was forced to rattle the door and listen to his chuckling.

"I will kill you!" she screamed. "The instant you're out of that room, you are dead!" He roared with laughter.

"Don't think so 3," he retorted. "I can always just go out through the window."

These rebuttals continued for several minutes, until Serena finally ran out of energy and her door battering ceased. She leaned against the door, sprawled on the floor, as she caught her breath. "So," she said, "are you going to call her?"

The splashing stopped inside the bathroom. "I don't know," he admitted. "I really want to, but at the same time me trying any kind of relationship with her would mean us losing our cover." He paused, as if deep in thought. "What do you think I should do?"

What did she think? That was strange, she thought, as he rarely asked for advice from anyone save for Pi. "I-I think you should be friends with her," she said. "I mean, it's not like you're still in love with her." Silence answered her, and for some reason her heart skipped a beat. "Are you still in love with her?"

"I…" He faltered. "I love her, 3. And Sarah. But I'm not sure if I'm still _in love_ with her. The damages done in our relationship were pretty deep. Remember, I'm still on the payroll of the people that split us up."

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered and lowered her head. So he was in love with her, she thought, and suddenly felt a slight quiver of anger towards May Birch. She wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that, if it were not for the way 0 was, Serena could have him. But then she remembered that if 0 was normal, he would be with May. In either scenario, Serena could not have the Golden Ranger.

Why did this make her angry?

She stood up and attempted to rationalize her feelings. The odd thing was that she was no longer interested in knowing which portion of his anatomy 0 was currently soaping up. Her emotions were far more complex than anticipated. Was it the fact that he was lasting her marathon of temptation? No, surely not. No one lasted when she turned up the heat, she'd just been off her game because he was a friend. That was all. She was confusing her friendship with 0 and her sexual needs for his body.

After a while, almost a half-hour later, 0 resurfaced from a steam-filled bathroom, fully dressed with a fresh supply of clothing from his morpher. This time his pants were blue, but he wore a black t-shirt with golden zigzags all over the short sleeves. His necklace dangled on its chain, the brightest hue of gold. He was still drying his hair with his towel, which he deposited in the hamper before he shut the bathroom door. "What?" he asked.

To Serena, he looked like some sort of modern day Tarzan. "Absolutely nothing," she said, with a distinct and obvious hint of husky in her voice. "So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" 0 was either oblivious to flirting, or was purposely not giving her the satisfaction of victory. "Wanna wash my back?"

"I do not," he replied.

She puffed up her cheeks. Why did he have to be such a complete and utter moron? She sighed. "Here's an idea," she said and her eyes gleamed at the possibilities. "How's about you call little miss May and ask her out? We can go over to the gym. Maybe you could try out Lu against her little brother."

That thought seemed to make him think. "Lu's still a Baby Pokemon. I don't want to push it if it isn't ready." They both glanced at Lu's punching bag, which was already starting to wear despite being three days old. "Maybe. This is its fifth one." He picked up the phone again and dialed the number. He headed out into the hallway as someone answered the phone on the other end and Serena scampered to the door to hear the conversation.

"Hello?" asked her partner. "Yes, I'm looking for a May Birch…" A pause, and Serena distinctly heard someone else talking on the other end who was older then May. "This is Keean Toby. We met at the- yes, Keean Toby from Saffron City. I was wondering if May was available, this is her cell phone, right?" Another pause, and finally he was connected to her. Serena's ear might as well have been melded to the wooden door considering how close she was.

"Hi, May?" His voice was somewhat shaky, but he maintained. Apparently, May was glad he had called. "Uh, I was wondering what you were up to today. I thought I might stop by the gym and visit. I could always use a Balance Badge." There was laughter, followed by further dialog. "Two hours? I suppose so. Mind if I bring a friend?" Serena's heart skipped a beat. "Yeah, the woman I was with at the museum. The one with white hair." They made the final arrangements and 0 hung up the phone. Serena scooted right back to the table and feigned that she had been surfing television channels when he walked back in.

"You up for a small trip across the street?" he asked. "She just invited us."

"No," she corrected and pointed a finger at him. "She invited you. I'm just along for the ride, hot shot." She turned back to the television and turned it to a news station. The Dark Sapphire Ranger was still at large, she couldn't afford for that thing to surface again and not be aware of it. "Why don't you go ahead? I'm sure she'll love some private time with an ex-husband who's playing spy with her." 0 didn't respond and it was only until she looked towards him that she noticed that his hands were shaking.

"I-I…" 0 looked down, and his hands hardened into fists. "I need you to be there, 3. If you're not there-" He looked up, and she saw the agony in his face. "I don't want to blow cover in front of the one person I am most likely to lose it in front of. 3, I need you there to restrain me. Besides, if she gets to me, who knows what I'll say. 'Sorry honey, it's really me. I've been working at a spy organization all this time!'" He groaned and rubbed his forehead. "3, I will not compromise her. She still has her memories, like everyone else does, of me." He growled. "I don't want to do to anyone ever again what they made me do to Sarah. You understand?"

Serena sensed that he very much wanted to cry, but wouldn't. She stood up and once again held him. Like the first time, the oddities of 0's conflicting emotions flowed into her through physical contact and she pressed her cheek against his chest. "Okay," she whispered, as if speaking to a much younger man. "I know. I understand." His hands stood rigid this time and she released him. Her eyes found his face and she smiled. "You don't have to do everything at once, okay? Take it one step at a time."

She suspected that 0 wanted to thank her, but was unable to process the words in his mouth, so all that exhaled was a sigh. She took it. "Now then, shall we get ready for our rendezvous with the Birches? I'm sure that daughter of yours can't wait to get to know you all over again."

He smiled. "I hope so, 3. That would be something nice to look forward to."

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With a final grunt, Max completed his hundredth pushup. True, the gym leader didn't have much to do while the gym was closed, but his normal workout regimen was almost obscene. He trained nonstop with his Pokemon for hours in preparation for his daily business, from the moment he woke until noon. Strangely, he had gotten up rather early that morning, and had been unable to get back to sleep. The gym leader sat up and stretched to make certain that he wouldn't sprain any of his aching muscles.

What was weird, though, was the fact that he had been getting roughly two hours of sleep for about a week. In the past, he had needed was eight, bare minimum. But now he was going to bed at midnight and rising a mere few hours later like clockwork. Something was giving him an extraordinary caffeine boost. He'd have to ask his sister if she'd been changing the coffee filters to espressos. He glanced at the thing dangling from his neck: the emerald he had taken from the museum. They hadn't seemed to notice its absence, and he for some reason didn't ever feel like he wanted to be parted from it. So he'd had it fit onto a small necklace.

He'd been training for almost ten hours. The house was alive and well. His parents were off taking care of some of the bills and invitations the family had received, they had mentioned something about a gala in a week they wanted to go to. His mind was on other things though. More specifically the Dark Sapphire Ranger, the PKM Rangers, and why both sides seemed to want his sister. May must have been born under an unlucky star, he thought, to have two high-tech sides fighting over her. He remembered the Rangerlings, and growled. He reached for the weights again, grabbed his twenty pound barbells, and started pumping his arms up and down.

Music was blaring in his training room and his entire body was glistening with sweat. He wasn't built like a bodybuilder, but had instead compact, powerful muscles that were more than capable for his daily needs. Likewise, his Pokemon were equally powerful, and it was a rare, but somehow satisfying, day when he had to hand out one of his Balance Badges. But today he felt optimistic that someone would show up that would be a challenge for him, and thus made sure that his Gallade and Mightyena were ready for a fight. Grovyle, always cool and collected, worked on the balance board to make certain that it wouldn't trip up during a fight. It had been having trouble keeping oriented during fights with digging Pokemon.

Finally, when a buzzer rang through the training room, Max called for everyone to stop. The three Pokemon did so with some reluctance, as they loved training almost as much as Max did. Their trainer smiled, talked with them about their strengths and weaknesses, his usual pep talk before a day of fighting, and they roared their approval. He recalled all three into their Poke Balls, and went to shower and change so he didn't smell quite like a locker room for the daily challengers.

When he completed his shower regimen, he put on a green shirt and some jeans. He had learned from experience that fancy clothing was not the way to go when it came to a profession that involved him fighting all day. His sneakers squeaked as he made his way down to the battle field. He stopped by the kitchen to grab some orange juice and drained the glass before he reached his beloved battlefield. His first opponent was already there, conversing with his sister.

"Hey!" he shouted in welcome and ran over. His future opponent stopped talking to watch Max approach. "How's it going? You here for a Balance Badge?"

The man smiled. "Yeah, something like that."

May blushed as the man looked over to her, which struck Max as odd. His sister wasn't prone to schoolgirl crushes. "Sorry, Mr. Toby," she said and turned to Max. "This is Keean Toby from the Saffron City Contest. Remember?" Max thought for a moment, then grinned.

"Absolutely," he replied and shook Keean Toby's hand. "You handed it pretty badly to my sis, Keean. Would you like to challenge me? I promise I'm tougher then her."

"As if," May retorted and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"I thought I should have a complete set," he explained. Max then noticed that a small woman was standing next to Keean Toby, holding his hand. "Sorry, honey. This is my girlfriend."

"I'm Serena Brine," she said. Max offered his hand to her, and she shook it heartily.

Max replied, "Great to see you."

"Hello!" she said excitably and turned to May. "Nice to formally meet you all. Sorry about my boyfriend's crass nature. He doesn't know any better." She looked up at him and grinned. "He's very dim-witted sometimes." She giggled, which Max found oddly adorable. This girl knew how to talk.

"Anyway, how's about a battle, Keean?" Max offered. "I'd love to take a closer look at that whole 'talking Pokemon' trick." Keean Toby nodded and moved to the challenger square on the other side of the battlefield. Serena followed him like a lovesick puppy and Max geared up Gallade's Poke Ball. The gym leader wasn't certain what Pokemon Keean Toby would use, only that he would use something strong. The tactical expert lifted up a Poke Ball and a Riolu exploded from the small orb. Max didn't wonder why Keean Toby had picked a Baby Pokemon to fight and immediately sent out his Gallade. "Let's go!"

"Okay," Keean Toby replied. "Riolu, go easy. This is our first battle, don't strain yourself."

"_Lu, Rio_!" confirmed the Pokemon, after which it beat its chest in anticipation.

"Gallade, False Swipe!" Max commanded. Gallade charged up its left arm and shot forward, much faster than most of its species.

"_Riolu, Iol_!" ordered Keean Toby. Riolu remained stationary until the final possible instant, when it tilted itself a few degrees to the right. The arm of the giant Gallade went wide, and Riolu retaliated with Copycat as it passed the larger Pokemon. The strike went deep into the Blade Pokemon's left leg, causing it to trip. "_Lu Rio Riolu_!" A high-pitched Screech burst from the Baby Pokemon, keeping its opponent down.

"Gallade, Psycho Cutter!" the gym leader shouted. This was impossible, he thought. Keean Toby's strategy had no flaws, none at all. The tactician could take in the most minute details and convert them into an advantage, like using Gallade's height against it, and even compensating for the type disadvantage. Max's Pokemon began to glow, and sharp blades emerged to deal with the tiny Riolu. Despite this, Keean Toby remained calm and calculated the best option.

"_Lu Rio_," he said, and Riolu started to glow with its Endure. The blades struck over and over again, but Riolu wouldn't be losing this turn. Finally, Gallade yielded, and Riolu activated its second portion of its plan. Its body glowed, and a second set of blades emerged. Max tried to order Gallade away, and the Blade Pokemon avoided most of them due to Riolu's inexperienced aim, but several struck its hide at crucial joints. Riolu didn't wait for them to subside either, and burst forward with a Quick Attack that knocked its opponent down to the ground. By this point, Max was getting desperate, and the calm neutral expression on Keean Toby's face was not helping. The gym leader was losing to a Baby Pokemon. It was highly embarrassing.

"Finish it," Keean Toby muttered, this time in his rough Orre dialect. Riolu obeyed, as it apparently understood what that command meant. Gallade didn't even see the Force Palm coming and, though it had Psychic type advantage, Riolu didn't miss, and aimed its blast between its foe's eyes. Gallade dropped, and stayed down.

Keean Toby held out Riolu's Poke Ball and smiled. "Return," he said and clicked the button. Red light burst out of the ball and captured Riolu, sending it right back to his Poke Ball for a well-deserved rest. Reluctantly, Max withdrew Gallade's Poke Ball from its holster on his belt and recalled his own Pokemon.

"Man, that was tough," he chided himself. "We're going to have to train harder." He walked across the battlefield to shake Keean Toby's hand. "You're pretty good. How long have you had that Riolu?"

Keean Toby thought about that. "A few weeks. Lu's been really fun to work with. It almost might actually be ready to evolve, but I don't think it knows me all that well yet." He chuckled.

"Cool," Max said. "Hey May, would you mind giving Keean the main tour of the building while I go and stick Gallade in the Pokemon Restoration Machine? I'll only be a minute." May nodded.

"Sure, I can show Mr. Toby and Serena around," she replied, with an odd interest in keeping her eyes on Keean Toby. He seemed oblivious. Max headed out into the back where the PRM was located. The machine looked a lot like a power generator, but when he opened the top half of the machine, it revealed a machine similar to something in a Pokemon Center. He'd had one installed by Nurse Joy when he decided that it seemed kind of undignified for a gym leader to have to rush to the Pokemon Center. Plus it was more convenient for his challengers. He plugged Gallade's Poke Ball inside the first slot, and was informed that the Pokemon would be fully restored in ten minutes. Sighing, he rested himself against the machine to wait.

"Hey, gym leader."

Max looked up. No one was in the room with him, he was alone. Yet he had heard a voice somewhere. "Yes?" he asked, looking around. "Dad, is that you?" No one replied for a few seconds and Max got a tingling feeling in his spine that conveyed something bad was about to happen. And, as usual, the feeling would prove correct.

Something punched him hard in the stomach, like a sharp stone. Max lurched then fell over. "Not your dad, kiddo!" replied the voice with an immense amount of glee. Max's vision was blurred, he had lost his glasses, which he vaguely noticed had been dropped almost beyond his reach. Groaning, he stretched his arm out to snatch them, but a dark boot crashed down on his arm. He shouted in pain. "This is interesting. I was so sure you'd be scared of me."

Max glared up at the figure who had attacked him, a man dressed all on blue and black. "I think…I know that voice," he grumbled. His free arm slinked behind his back for one of the Poke Balls on his holster. "I'm guessing the name Sappho rings a bell with you, right?"

Instead he cackled, and bent down so that he could look Max directly in his blurry vision. "You know, that's such a stupid name," the Dark Sapphire Ranger retorted and grabbed the gym leader by the neck. Max, chocked by the pressure, was lifted into the air and rammed against a nearby wall. "I think Golden Boy makes fun of me when he calls me that. Are you making fun of me?"

Max spit at his visor. "What do you think?"

Sappho smashed the back of Max's head hard against the wall. "That's a bad, bad gym leader," the Dark Sapphire Ranger murmured in dismay, then kneed Max in the groin. Blood trickled from the man's mouth as he groaned feebly. "Now's not the time to be a big brave hero, boy. I might just kill your precious Pokemon, if you don't quit with the puns." That shut Max right up. "Good, you're learning," he whispered. "That's very good."

"This lecture got a point or are you just here to bug me?" Max asked. "I'm a busy guy and I don't like you."

"Shut up," Sappho replied, and used his other hand to grab the emerald that Max was wearing on his neck. And, though Max knew that the guy was wearing a helmet, he could not help but sense a wave of disappointment from Sappho as his hands curled around the emerald. "This is just perfect. Just perfect." In his irritation, he tossed Max to the ground on his back. "Just great. It's bonded to you. It's bonded to you!" He kicked Max's stomach in anger.

"I-I don't understand-" Max was silenced, as the Dark Sapphire Ranger decided that that moment was perfect to grab the man's mouth and force it shut.

"You know, I work hard too. I punch a clock. I pay taxes. Why would you want to ruin my job?" Sappho was acting like all the problems of the world had suddenly fallen onto him. "The stupid thing's bonded to you now, so there's nothing I can do… Man, they're gonna kill me for letting anyone bond to it… Eh, I guess you'll be good enough for them. We don't recruit that often, but I'm sure they'd love you to be with us…"

Max started shouting vehemently, but Sappho didn't quite understand. Tilting his head to his side, the Dark Sapphire Ranger relaxed his grip just enough so that Max could speak. "What is it, idiot?" Sappho muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Max gasped.

"I'm talking about the Dark Emerald, idiot!" screeched the annoyed Sappho, and smashed Max's head again. "That little green gem you have strapped to your neck! It's supposed to be with me and with my friends so they can use it." His grip tightened on Max's throat as he grasped the Dark Emerald, which had started to pulsate in reaction to Sappho's beatings, matching the heartbeat racing through the gym leader's body. "It's a talisman of evil, boy. We wanted it for that reason. And now it's gone and bonded to you instead of one of our soldiers. Do you know what this means?"

"No idea," the battered man mumbled to himself.

"It means you're going to take responsibility for it," Sappho explained, and giggled as he forced Max to look him right in the visor. "You're going to be the one to use this thing, you're going to be the one that kills with it, and you're going to be the one who brings us one step closer to our goal!" He cackled, but softly, as he had made a lot of noise and didn't want the whole place to know he was there. Max glanced down at the Dark Emerald, which beat wildly in synchronization with his heartbeat.

"Wh-what do you want with me, Sappho?"

The Dark Sapphire Ranger giggled, and bent closer to Max's crumbled body. "The Dark Emerald might be bonded to you, little boy, but it hasn't fully taken hold yet." Through his black visor, Sappho glared at his lost prize. "No use crying about it now. Dark Gems can't be removed once they choose a host. But of all the luck…" Sappho lamented his failure by lowering his head in shame.

"Nothing you've just said makes sense," Max said.

Sappho lifted his face sharply, and slapped Max's cheek. "Do you even understand the words that are coming out of my mouth, boy? The Dark Emerald is special…and powerful. It takes the soul of one dead Pokemon, but the degree of power that is amplified from that is incredible! It's like a supercharge! But-" And at this Sappho turned away, as if discussing the subject with someone else "-it's so very picky. It is the food critic of Dark Gems." Sappho groaned and then grabbed something out of a compartment on his belt. It was a long, silvery chain, kind of like the one Max was wearing, only it has a specially set place for a gem. Sappho grabbed Max by his chain, and somehow managed to transfer the gem between the two chains. "When the time comes, use this, and all your dreams will come true boy!" He shoved the chain hard onto Max's right forearm, almost breaking the skin. "Bye-bye, kiddo! Let's do this again sometime!" He cackled and leapt away, vanishing just as quickly as he had come.

Max, pained by his injuries, curled up into a ball. The emerald, previously a nice necklace ornament and now some sort of evil chalice, gleamed against his chest, flashing to the beat of his heart. The chain, wrapped around his arm, began moving, much to Max's surprise. It wound along his arm, up his shoulders, and around its neck, where it finally went dormant and stopped pulsating. Max, breathing hard, sat up and leaned against the wall.

"What have I gotten myself into?" he asked himself and his hands curled around the Dark Emerald. He wanted to get rid of the emerald now, but was somehow incapable of doing so. A nagging voice in the back of his head roared against the idea, the mere notion, that he could get rid of it without anything bad happening. Max glanced at the old, seemingly harmless chain that was now strewn across the floor. The new one felt like it would kill him if he got rid of it. "What's going on?"

Vaguely, he noticed that the Poke Ball machine was beeping. He didn't even notice that his wounds had completely healed, or that he grabbed Gallade's Poke Ball and stuffed it into his pocket. All he was thinking about was the fact that somewhere, for some reason, something was laughing at him, bugging him to an extent he had never felt before.

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Serena Brine was in the belly of the beast. Oh, she knew what she had been getting herself into when she had agreed to come, but she couldn't refuse those cute little tantrums that 0 was prone to throw any time they had to do something even remotely related to his family. The man had issues but, as she looked at him now, she couldn't find them at all. The mask called Keean Toby hid them perfectly, down to the very last detail. He was cool, charming, even funny, things the White Ranger had never before been aware that 0 could be.

"This is the garden," May said and opened the door to the outside. For some reason, Serena disliked May. She wasn't quite sure why specifically, it might have been that May had oddly puffier hair then Serena did, or the fact that May looked beautiful despite having a few noticeable injuries. Or maybe it was the fact that 0 was focusing solely on May and ignoring Serena completely. Whatever it was, Serena did not like it.

"Would you like to join us for some lunch?" May offered. Serena guessed she sensed the discomfort between them. "My mother makes great food."

Serena smiled. "I would love to," she said, and glanced up at 0. "Right?"

He nodded. "Right," he said and looked at May. "We'd love to."

She showed them through the gym to the modest kitchen right next to the battlefield. Inside, Caroline was busy preparing a primarily pork-based meal, with sides of rice. Serena gripped 0's hand to make sure he didn't start saying anything stupid. The woman was aging quite gracefully, with few wrinkles adorning her head. 0 and Serena sat at the table and she turned around in surprise.

"Why hello," she said with a smile. "Who are you?"

"Serena Brine and Keean Toby," Serena answered.

Caroline chuckled. "It's been a while since anyone's bothered to stop in for lunch after fighting," she murmured, and removed a frying pan from the stove. "It's an old tradition sure, but young people these days don't understand courtesy. They come here for the badge my son gives and then leave."

"Such a shame," Serena murmured sympathetically.

Caroline agreed and handed the couple some beef bowls to enjoy before the main course. They waited for May to join them before beginning. "Any mail today, Mom?" May asked, and dug into her bowl. 0 didn't actually eat the food, but pretended to as best he could.

"M-hm," Caroline confirmed, and brought out a letter from her apron. "An invitation from the city." She handed the letter to her daughter and made busy with the rest of the luncheon's food.

May put down her bowl and laid down the chopsticks. "Dear Miss Birch," she read, "'We are pleased to invite you and your guests to the annual Gala Ball.' How lovely. 'Please RSVP your party size so we can reserve your table.'"

"When it is?" Caroline asked.

"In a week."

Caroline thought about it. "I haven't been dancing with your father in ages. We should go."

"And…" May turned to 0, and Serena caught a glimpse in her eyes of something she became suspicious of. "Would you like to join us?" She had eyes only for 0 and Serena fumed to herself.

"Love to," he replied. Serena's hands suspiciously began to gain claw-like attributes and her hand slinked towards her partner's leg. "I would…" He paused and briefly glanced downwards to notice Serena was feeling left out of the conversation. "I mean, we, would love to go. Right honey?" He glanced at Serena and attempted a smile. Serena dug her talons into his flesh.

"Of course, dear," she said sweetly and tilted her head with a smile. She would make him pay for this insubordination. But for now she would play the role of loving girlfriend, until the instant they were out of public view. Caroline finished her food and after calling to her husband, Sarah, and Max, sat down and poured herself a glass of lemonade.

Sarah wandered in only a few minutes after Caroline had ordered her appearance. She looked tired and Serena noticed a slight scar on her hand. "Food?" the little girl asked Serena sensed the inner cravings of a creature in need of feeding. Caroline nodded and pointed to a spot at the table with a bunch of food ready. Sarah nodded and sat down. She picked up her chopsticks and without further ado attacked her food like a rapid Pokemon.

"Sarah, say hello to our guests," Caroline said and gestured to Serena and 0.

"Hi," she said without looking up.

0 chuckled, which caused Serena to increase the pressure on his leg. "Sarah," he said calmly. "How have you been?"

"Fine," the girl said, then stopped eating briefly. "Mr. Toby?" She had not noticed him at all, far too focused on eating. She smiled when she looked at him and Serena glanced at 0's face for any problems.

0 had none, the man seemed a natural born actor when in the face of his audience. "Thought I'd stop by and see you all," he explained and grinned at May. "Your mother invited me over to enjoy some food with you all. And fight your uncle."

Sarah giggled. "Did you beat Uncle Max?"

He lifted a thumb's up. "Piece of cake," he replied.

"Yay!" Sarah squealed with delight.

"Baby girl," May murmured, and her daughter calmed down slightly. "It seems we've been invited to a party."

Sarah asked, "Party, Mommy?"

May nodded. "Mr. Toby and Ms. Serena said that they would love to be our guests. Do you want to come too?"

"Yes yes yes yes yes!" The little girl was very excited and required a stern look from her grandmother to settle down. She looked at her food with a sudden disinterest and Serena caught that girlish gleam in the little one's eye that only a gala event could produce. "Mr. Toby?" she asked and turned to the friendly giant.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Will you dance with me there?"

The entire table chortled at the request. Serena glanced at 0, who had covered his mouth to cover the grin on his face. "S-sure, Sarah," he muttered, very close to laughter. Serena peered into the locks of hair that masked the majority of his face. 0's mask was shaking.

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**_…Present Day…_**

Serena grumbled and attempted to stomp hard on her partner's foot. The music was elevated, heightened to match the frenzy of dancing that was her and 0's rendition of the waltz. Other couples, in fear for their personal safety, had begun to distance themselves from them, resulting in a circle around both rangers. Serena and 0 took no notice; Serena because of her inner wrath and 0 in justifiable fear for his life. The odd thing was that no one else seemed to understand the tension between the two, and simply assumed they were professionally trained.

Serena grunted with annoyance as 0 side-stepped her. "Want to tell me what this is about?" he asked and twirled her with one sweep of his left arm. She almost jerked it out of its socket, but 0 loosened his grip in time.

"You know you have this coming," she retorted. In retaliation, she threw her hips out, knocking 0 right in the pelvis. He was annoyed, but didn't let that show, as he grabbed her by the aforementioned hips and lifted her right off the ground. Serena growled, unaccustomed to being lifted, and tried kicking him right in the groin. 0 pivoted so the kick flew by harmlessly then took the move one step further. He flipped Serena, grasping her by the legs she had thrown out, and had her hand on his feet right beside him. Her eyes shot daggers at him. The crowd cheered.

"No, seriously," he muttered. She was dancing very close to him, almost as if she was preparing to jab him with her nails. "What is this about?"

Serena grumbled in a very angry way and tried to crush his feet again. In a terrible contortion of a box step, 0 avoided the heels each and every time. "Why don't you go dance with your wife?" she snarled. "Oh, that's right. Because she's not your wife." She wanted to be cruel to him, the gigantic idiot that he was, who could not even interpret the slightest bit of her attraction to him. 0, oblivious, lowered the mask he had been wearing as Keean Toby.

"Low, 3," he whispered and took hold of her arms. "Very low." He didn't give her a window of chance to escape, and before she knew it, she was being pressed against his muscles, which did the work he had assessed they would. Serena melded into them like glue, albeit unwillingly. "Explain your behavior. It is jeopardizing our cover." The gruff voice was unmistakable: 0 had stopped playing the game.

She refused to answer him and instead fought her physical and emotional compulsions by tackling his. She wiggled suggestively against his body, up and down, side to side, diverting the attention of the majority of the men present from their significant others. She swayed her hair seductively, utilizing every inch of the body she had been given to drive 0 away. He was obsessed with May and would leave her soon.

But, to her extreme surprise, he did not. Instead, the Golden Ranger took her gently and forced her to face him. "Are you angry at May?" he asked, finally deducing the correct question. She looked away to the lady who stood by the sidelines with Drew and nodded. "Why?"

"Because," she explained, and looked up at him. "You're not her husband. Not anymore. But you're _my_ partner." She didn't even notice that, as they began to slow down, so did the music, and finally others were beginning to brave the dance floor once again. "You think you can keep your cover and try to get back with her. And you insist on thinking that you can be both my partner and her husband."

"Why can't I?" he replied, calm as ever. He didn't understand the complexities of emotions that were raging through Serena's brain, or what his answers would result in.

Serena looked away. The music had changed into a slow, mournful song of what both guessed was love. She allowed him to lead her through the crowd, her cheek pressed to where she assumed his heart was located. Assuming he had one, she thought bitterly, as he had missed signs that even a blind Aipom would have automatically understood. She couldn't understand how anyone could be so unbelievably strong like 0 was yet at the same time be so utterly dimwitted.

_ Because I want you to be mine_.

But she didn't say that. To say that would mean putting herself completely out there for him and, while she did indeed want him, she wasn't quite sure which part of him she wanted. Did she crave the first friend she had ever had, and had maintained, since coming to PKM, or had she fallen for the dark warrior that 0 retreated into when the world became unbearable to him? Or the lonely man he only showed her? Which one was the real Golden Ranger?

At the same time, she wasn't sure about his interests either. 0 was still attached to the idea that he wanted to be May's husband, whether this was something he actually wanted or something he simply needed to be. He defined himself by the failures of his marriage and the loss of his child. In every aspect he acted like someone torn between the past and the future, with no clue what to do in the present.

"I'm sorry, 3," he replied. "I didn't understand that you felt that way."

Fairly certain that he still did not understand exactly how she felt, she sighed. "Idiot," she grumbled and pressed herself against him. "You're mine for the night, could you at least not forget that again?"

"Of course, 3," he replied. There was a subtle gentleness in his voice, something she had not heard before. She smiled in content that she could feel his arms surrounding her in their powerful, protective embrace. She smiled that she could feel his heart beating in his chest, and that it sounded so warm and strong. Even if she knew it was just an act to him, she liked it nonetheless.

"0?"

"Yes, 3?"

"What do you think of me?"


	12. Morph 12

So, let's have a little bit of a conversation, as I've had some questionable responses to this chapter. This chapter has some **M**-ish material (and the original version of this chapter did have explicit sexual content), but this updated version features nothing I haven't seen on television that isn't targeted at teenagers. But that's not what I want to warn you about. After reading this chapter, if you feel offended and that I have somehow betrayed you due to this shipping that this story is advertised with, I would like you to please calm down. This chapter is a little over one-fifth of the intended length of this fan-fiction, and I assure you that every scene is necessary for the intended happy ending promised by the shipping description of this story. This concludes my caring if people whine about the content of this chapter, and further criticisms of readers who stop at this point, complain in my review section, and go no further will be used by my friends and I to laugh at people that take fan-fiction entirely too seriously. Without further ado, let's continue. I apologize for the length of this rant.

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**Morph Twelve: Awakening**

To 0, his partnership with Serena was becoming strange. Since his divorce, his single-minded aversion to the subject had been the primary deterrent to any woman who had ever crossed his path in PKM, with Serena being the sole exception. And yet here he was, hand in hand with her. To be completely honest, it wasn't all that comfortable, but at the same time he wasn't uncomfortable either. He hadn't quite been able to answer Serena's question at the ball, and she hadn't pushed the issue, apparently because she enjoyed the mental torture he had been under. If he slept, he would be losing it over the query. It was so out of character for Serena, whose sexual banter 0 had long accepted and generally ignored. True romance was probably as far removed from Serena's normal thought process as a Snorlax was from a dietary clinic.

"You know," she said, and batted her eyelashes at him, "I've always wanted to go to one of these places with you." 0 glanced up at the building's sign with reservation. _Petal_ was supposed to be Petalburg's finest hot springs resort and 0 believed it from what he was seeing. The entrance lobby itself was decorated like a hot spring, and 0 could tell that _Petal_ would probably cater to anything even remotely related to hot springs, judging from the multiple storey building it occupied. Its lavish paint, which was some sort of light blue, had a slight calming effect to the Golden Ranger when he viewed it.

"As long as we're just here to relax," he replied carefully. Serena smirked a little, which made 0 wary, and led him through the doors. "We earned it, Snorlax."

"Don't call me that," she retorted. At the registration desk stood an energetic gentleman who greeted them with a smile. "Besides, it was 415's idea I take a break. She didn't say I had to bring you along."

"How very generous of her."

"Hello!" said the receptionist and perked up his face. "Welcome to _Petal_, Petalburg's elite spa clinic. Do you have a reservation?"

"This is a spa clinic?" 0 asked Serena. "I thought you said it was a hot springs."

"We prefer to call it a spa clinic," explained the man, with a huff of indignation. To Serena, he said, "Your reservation, ma'am?"

"Please ignore my moronic boyfriend," she said sweetly and dug her foot into 0's boot. "Here are our names." The man had produced a chart of the guests for the day, and Serena took out two identification cards. "Serena Brine and Keean Toby." The man lifted the cards to inspect them, then smiled.

"Of course, Ms. Brine," he said and handed them back to the White Ranger, who pocketed them. "You are scheduled for an all-day treatment with an overnight visit. Please go down the hallway to the left towards the changing rooms." He lowered his hands out of sight and withdrew three keys from his desk. "These are for your changing lockers and hotel room." Serena grabbed the locker and room keys, which dangled on slight bracelets, and put them right on her morpher. 0 took his locker key and, trying to forget that he and Serena would be sharing a very cramped room that evening, applied his own bracelet. "Enjoy your stay at _Petal_." He waved to Serena as she, and 0 in tow, made for the changing rooms down the hallway.

"Well, he seemed to like you," 0 noted.

"Why," she said with a slight whisper, "is that jealousy that I hear in your voice?"

"Of course not."

"'Of course not'," she imitated. Then she looked up. "By the way, did you look at that list closely?" He shook his head, he had not. "Someone we know is here, with a party of three. Do you know who that could be?"

"No idea." 0 was not very interested in what she was saying.

"May, Max, and Sarah Birch are here," Serena answered, her voice dripping with a slight venom. "Any idea why they're here?"

0 sensed that Serena was displeased by this information, why he hadn't the slightest clue. "Coincidence?" he ventured. He had no idea what May and her family happened to be taking a vacation at the same time he and Serena were, but was fairly certain he was going to pay for it later. "Anyway, don't worry 3. This is our vacation. I won't forget that."

"Better not," she said. They reached the changing rooms, and Serena headed for the female side, making some comment under her breath regarding the unfortunate decisions that the _Petal_ owners had made which forced her to change in a separate room. 0 decided not to think about it and opened the door to the men's changing room. The first thing that struck him was the fact that there were a multitude of somewhat hefty men and small children, a combination that 0 knew was common in most hot springs. He found his locker near the front of the door and opened it.

"Hey, Keean!" 0 recognized the voice, but wasn't sure he had heard correctly. He looked to his right and noticed that Max Birch was walking towards him, with a towel wrapped around his waist. Beside him, Gallade walked proudly. After thinking about it, 0 released Lu from its Poke Ball so it could get some relaxation too. "What a coincidence, you being here!"

"No kidding," 0 replied. He clasped hands with the gym leader. "What're you doing here?"

"Eh, spas aren't really my thing, but May thought it would be perfect considering some of the stress we've been under." He continued talking, but 0 lost interest after that. The Golden Ranger instead focused on the small gem that was dangling from an odd chain on Max's neck. "But May and Sarah insisted, and what's a guy to do?"

"I agree," 0 muttered. "My girlfriend thought this would be perfect bonding for us. She has this weird idea that nude places are the best places to bond."

"Man," Max lamented, "if only I had a girlfriend as great as that. You must work pretty hard to keep her tied to you."

0 chuckled. "Not as hard as you might think," he said and took off his shirt. He glanced around and stood facing the lockers. "Hey, do you think they have robes around here? I'm a bit self-conscious on the whole bare-body look."

Max turned around. "I think they had some over by the showers. Want me to grab you one?"

"That'd be great." Max headed away, and 0 heard someone approach him.

"What's that, mister?" asked a boy who couldn't have possibly been older than ten. 0 sighed and faced the kid. Years of age hadn't changed the scars that he bore along his chest, and they never would. His stomach, chest, and even parts of his shoulders were covered in lines of dark scars. The boy, horrified, ran away to his father.

"Wow," muttered Max, when he approached and saw 0's front. "The hell did that to you?" He handed 0 the robe, which he put on immediately before removing the remainder of his clothing and stuffing it in his locker.

"Souvenirs from Orre, Max," he explained, using the first excuse that came to his head. "Never go. It's a rough place, you wouldn't make it." The two shared a laugh and walked out the room with their Pokemon, who were eyeing each other as if looking for a rematch. 0's ring chinked against his chest, prompting Max's attention.

"Hey, Keean, where'd you get that ring?" he asked and pointed at it.

"Oh this?" He glanced down, and once again decided that it would be in his best interests to lie. "Uh…family heirloom."

"It looks kind of like a wedding ring."

"It is one. It runs in the family," he replied.

Max shrugged. "It looks kind of like the one my sister had. You know, before she quit wearing it."

Curiosity overwhelmed 0 and, despite himself, he had to learn more. He made sure that Serena was nowhere near them before he resumed conversation. "So, your sister was married?" he asked casually. Lu and Gallade led the way down the halls to the main baths, where hopefully they would be able to relax.

"Oh yeah," Max said. "Around…let's see… I think they split up about three years ago or so. May never lets anyone in on the specifics on why they broke up, but Sarah's their daughter." He sighed and shook his head. "Kinda messed her up a little, to be honest. Ever since then she's been a little bit more carefree with herself. One of the reasons the paparazzi keeps following her is because they're convinced that she'll slip up and do something crazy." He chuckled. "I keep an eye on her, so we've been doing fine so far."

"That's good," said 0. "You're a good brother, Max." At least his family was being taken care of, 0 thought to himself. Max grinned and the two opened the doors to the public baths, along with the shouting and noise that came with such a public area. Lu and Gallade abandoned them immediately, as they noticed a group of Pokemon relaxing on the left side of the massive room. "Guess we find the women?"

"Guess so," Max replied and rubbed away some of the fog on his glasses. They glanced around the room, thanking whatever Legendary Pokemon that everyone had had the common sense to have worn undergarments provided by the establishment. People of all shapes and sized crowded around the pools to recline and enjoy the hospitality of the spa. 0 glanced around, unconsciously checking for any hostile targets in the room, and noticed a head filled with white hair sitting right next to a brunette with a small child.

0 pointed to one of the pools in the further corner. "There they are," he muttered. Sarah was playing with Serena and May by the poolside, all three of them laughing. Max led the way and the two of them strode towards the others.

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To Serena, the march towards the changing room was quite possibly one of the most difficult things she had ever attempted to do. The White Ranger was brave, cunning, and vastly more intelligent than her partner was, but a romantic rival was not something to be taken lightly. So, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she perked up a smile and opened the door to the changing rooms. A multitude of other women came under her survey, but she ignored them with disinterest, and focused on looking for a certain head with brown locks. She spotted May about three seconds after searching, and puffed herself up like a Jigglypuff before approaching.

"Hello!" she said and approached them in a whirlwind of speed. May looked up in surprise and smiled when she saw Serena. "What a coincidence, finding you here." Serena lowered herself to Sarah's height, who giggled when she saw Serena. "And hello, Sarah. How are you today?"

"Hi, Ms. Brine!" Sarah said with a wave. Serena patted her on the head, before May hoisted her daughter up to the bench to help her with her swimsuit. "Is Mr. Toby here with you? And Lu?"

"Yes. They're over in the men's changing rooms." Serena, for all her reservations about the mother, found herself quite fond of the little girl's bubbly personality.

"Yay!" Sarah could hardly stop moving long enough for her mother to get her ready to go out and play in the pools. Finally, after much wriggling, May succeeded in taming her daughter into a one-piece suit. May herself was still clothed.

"Serena, would you mind getting some towels while I keep an eye on Sarah," she asked, turning to the White Ranger. Serena nodded sweetly.

"Of course," she answered, and found two snowy white towels perfect for the job. Hers was short while May's hid everything, and she handed it to May with yet another smile. "Here you go, May."

The mother bowed her head. "Thank you," she replied. Serena took careful notes of May's body as the two women stripped and applied their bathing suits, to see exactly what her partner was so fascinated about. True, May had slightly larger breasts then the White Ranger did, and was taller, but Serena was by no means at a disadvantage. Serena was petite, with a well-toned body that was a direct result of her PKM training. Plus, Serena looked younger, quite possibly because she didn't have a five-year-old daughter who loved mischief, but May hadn't aged that much, and if anything the small, lithe lines that Serena could detect made May looked more mature. She put on the towel over her chest and carefully tied it while Serena draped hers over her like a hindrance.

"Ready to go?" she asked May.

"Of course. Come on Sarah," she murmured and looked to her daughter, who nodded happily and jumped off of the bench and through the changing room faster than a Pokemon with Agility. May, dragged along, bid Serena to follow them, which she did pleasantly, inwardly analyzing everything potentially wrong with 0's ex. They traveled down a slight corridor that had an ankle-deep pool of very cold water, apparently to get rid of bad germs and to wash feet before entering the public place.

The main room could only be described as a pool extravaganza, as there were all kinds literally thrown together without any semblance of design that Serena could discern. There were pools of different varieties, such as different temperatures and sizes, oh and a couple for children and Pokemon, but all in all Serena quickly dismissed the beauty of the room she was standing in to concentrate on her rival for 0's attention. May, smiling as always, led her daughter and her unknown opponent towards a kiddie pool so that Sarah could get some fun out of the place. The little girl took one look at a slide standing next to the water and took off at speeds normally considered unsafe for wet surfaces like the room's floor. May watched her daughter carefully, every bit the mother that 0 had told Serena she was, and only turned away when Sarah's shriek of laughter died down when she splashed down in the water and began doggy-paddling her way to the shallow side of the pool.

"How old is she?" Serena asked, deciding small talk would be most appropriate for her purposes.

"She'll actually be six in a few months," May answered and took a seat near the edge of the pool where she could supervise her daughter. "She's growing up pretty fast."

"Where's her father?" Serena asked, knowing the answer would be obvious but that it would also serve as an indication as to where May stood on 0.

She shrugged. "Don't know," she replied. "He's been out of the picture for three years. All I get is an alimony check every month for Sarah, which I don't really need so I…" She stopped herself and shook her head. "Sorry, I tend to rant a little bit about my ex. I don't like discussing him."

She nodded. "I know how you feel," Serena agreed. "Too many bad boyfriends."

May laughed. "Exactly that feeling. So," she whispered, with a slightly intrigued look in her eyes, "what's up with you and Mr. Toby?"

"W-what do you mean?" Serena stammered, obviously thrown off by the fact that the romantic spotlight had shifted to her.

"Well," May answered, and a slight giggle escaped her throat, "I think he's pretty good looking. I mean…if he weren't taken by you, I'd-" She paused, possibly because continuation would have been embarrassing, as her faced reddened with a cause having little to do with the water's heat.

"Well, Keean and I have a very old fashioned relationship," Serena told her, lying through her perfect teeth. "See, the giant lug is very shy, and seems to have a habit of sometimes being unaffectionate when I demand him to be." She shook her head and sighed with a minor irritation at her partner's thick-headedness. "I simply don't know how to get him to take the next step in our relationship."

"You mean-" And at this May's voice dropped so low that Serena had to strain to hear it "-_that_ step?"

Serena nodded and May blushed further. "We've been together for almost two years, and he never touches me. Maybe he's gay."

May chuckled at the notion. "I highly doubt that," she answered with encouragement. "You two seem very well connected. I'd say just letting him know you're ready and seeing where that goes." Upon this, Serena found herself gossiping with 0's ex-wife on schemes to make a better boyfriend out of her partner, which she found had a paradoxical charm despite her annoyance at being reduced to tips from the ex.

Nevertheless, this bode well for Serena and her plans, which had been pre-arranged with the gentlemen manning the private hot springs when she had called earlier to confirm her reservation. Attached to her bracelet was the key to a private Jacuzzi which she had full intention of sharing with a certain Golden Ranger the instant that he emerged from the changing rooms. What was taking him so long Serena couldn't guess, but since May and Sarah were at the _Petal_, a safe assumption could be made that the gym leader had followed.

As if to confirm her suspicion, her hunk of man-meat entered the pool room from the male changing rooms with May's gym leader brother in tow, following Lu and the Gallade who both seemed rather eager to play or have another fight, Pokemon relationships often boiling down to one or the other. The Pokemon, after being dismissed by their trainers, proceeded to the nearest pool designated for Pokemon and performed near-perfect cannonballs to announce their presence to the rest of the Pokemon present.

"Had fun changing each other?" Serena purred at 0, as he sat down next to her.

He shot her a dirty look, to which she responded by winking flirtatiously. "Max, got any idea where there's somewhere I can get my drink on?" He hadn't had a drink for several hours, and a cool beer seemed perfect for a relaxing day such as this.

"I'm pretty sure that this floor is dry, dear," Serena explained to him. Normally it was considered bad karma to drink near bodies of water, which 0 did not understand. 0 also seemed to misunderstand the wit she had displayed in her explanation, as he was quite sure that the floor was wet from overflowing water. "No beer until later today," she exemplified. "When we're in our room."

At this, 0 officially abandoned all interest in alcohol and took to simply resting in his chair. Sarah did not seem to notice her adult guardians receiving their deeply needed rest, as she was far too busy paddling through the water, squealing with delight at how it felt like floating. After about twenty minutes of this, most of which Serena spent eyeing a clock in the corner, a handsome young attendant approached her chair wearing a lifeguard jacket that designated him as someone of authority.

"Ms. Brine," said he, and tossed the blond curls of his hair in what must have been a come on.

She lifted her head from the pillow she had been resting on. "Yes?" she replied curtly, wondering what had taken him so long.

"Your private spring has been fully prepared to what you have requested," he said professionally, as he quickly realized flirting with her would get him nowhere.

"The reinforced door?"

"Soundproof and perfectly suited to more…" He looked slightly uncomfortable at having to be so graphic, "intimate encounters, should you wish to have them. The private bath will be reserved to you throughout your vacation time here."

"I appreciate it," she said. He then left and she glared at him until he vanished from sight for wasting twenty minutes of her time. "Keean." 0 looked up inquisitively and she shook her bracelet's key. "We're going for our spa treatments now."

"I'm kinda settled right now," he said and resumed the reclined position he had so been enjoying in his chair. He was then reminded that his decision of said matter did not bear any standing on the turn of events that would follow, as Serena grabbed him by the ponytail and dragged him in the most undignified manner possible in the direction of the private baths, which in turn caused both May and Max to point and laugh at his predicament.

"I can walk on my own," complained 0, after about twenty feet of being dragged across the tiled floor, and Serena paused long enough to let the idiotic behemoth rise to his full height, his boyish retardation replaced in Serena's eyes with a vision of physical perfection and object of lust, as many of 0's physique tend to become. He followed her obediently, obviously expecting a well-deserved relaxing bath by himself, sans Serena. She led him down the hallway, playing absentmindedly with the towel she wore for no explicable purpose other than to have something to twirl in her fingers as they reached her reserved bath.

"In here," she purred, and opened the door for him, releasing a faint cloud of steam from the warmth of the pool inside. "I hope you enjoy."

He nodded. "Thanks, I could really use some R&R." Serena didn't even feel a twinge of guilt that no such rest and relaxation would occur, so simply smiled as he walked in without a glance backwards. Taking her key from her bracelet, Serena made absolutely certain that the "Do Not Disturb" sign was steadily tied to the knob of the door before she snuck in behind him and locked him in with her.

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"Uncle Max's hair is not a plaything!"

But, of course, the logic of this escaped his niece, which resulted in Max reliving Sarah's favorite pastime: harassing him. Wondering how long he would be able to take Sarah's hair pulling before he finally went bald, the gym leader launched back with a tickling attack, driving back his niece with a fit of giggles. May laughed at this as she relaxed in the nearby heated pool, while Max fumed. He thought he could hear Gallade's chuckle from afar, but decided he must be hearing things again.

"Hey," he said, in an endeavor to keep Sarah away from his head, "how'd you like if I went and got some soda pop for you, Sarah?"

"Soda!" Sarah agreed eagerly, and nodded vigorously. May gave a warning glance that conveyed to Max the dangers of a Sarah under the effects of caffeine, and Max reconsidered his choice of beverage for Sarah. A soda might distract her for a good five minutes, but would hype her up for hours in return. With all this in mind, the gym leader proceeded towards the vender with the intent of locating a fruit drink or something that would be both enjoyed by Sarah and prevent her from swimming for a little while so he could enjoy the water with the threat of her Sharpedo attacks.

"Let's see…" For a spa, _Petal_ had surprisingly little from what Max could see in regards to food services. After a few moments of looking around, he spotted a snack bar right next to a few kid slides on the other side of the giant room. "Ah, there's one!" he said triumphantly and turned to Sarah. "You stick around with your Mom, okay? I'll be right back." The little girl smiled as he patted her head and then jumped into the pool to play with her mother.

Max had actually been enjoying himself, despite his current status as Sarah's human plaything. Lately, with all that had been happening with him and his family, he was sort of in desperate need for a vacation. So, when he and May had been offered a vacation as part of a publicity stunt by the spa, he had only been too eager to agree.

He approached the vender and smiled to the young lady working the stand. "You got any orange juice?" he asked politely.

"Yes, sir!" she replied, a bit too energetically, which told Max she obviously hadn't been working at _Petal_ long. Behind the counter, he watched her pour it into a plastic cup, secure the lid, and stick a straw in. She handed it to him and smiled. "What is your name, sir?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why, I need your name to process the billing information to your stay," she explained. "It's easier then asking people in bathing suits for cash."

"Oh. Max Birch." She smiled and took down the information, then gasped and looked back up in surprise at the gym leader. He grinned and shushed her, taking the drink and heading back the way he came. Her eyes followed him.

"Is that orange juice?" Max stopped, wondering who had spoken to him. Sitting a few feet away was a woman lying down on a reclining chair, her eyes closed. Most of her face was hidden by a violet mane of curly hair, possibly dyed.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "How'd you know that?"

She smirked, and Max noticed a subtle shade of red lipstick. "Good sense of smell," she replied and pointed a manicured finger to her dainty nose. Max chuckled. "What might your name be, mister orange juice?" She didn't look at him, but Max found no harm in taking a few minutes to talk to someone.

"I'm Max," said he and extended his arm. She took it. "Pleased to meet ya."

"Verity, and the feeling is quite mutual," she murmured and released his hand. Max noticed hers was very soft. "So, what are you doing here, Max?" She held his hand slightly longer than would have been appropriate for a handshake.

"Uh, nothing much," he replied. Suddenly the pressing needs of Sarah's thirst took a backseat. "Hanging out with my sister and her daughter."

"Oh…" said Verity with a slight giggle. "A family man."

They laughed, which was strange for Max, who usually had to boast of his gym leader status to get a girl's attention. But he wasn't about to deny this interesting girl's advances, and continued with the flirtatious mode Verity seemed to exhume so naturally. "Haven't settled down quite yet," he said, almost as an afterthought to himself, with the just the right tone of voice.

"Really?" she inquired, taking his bait. "And why do you think that might be?"

He shrugged. "Women all seem the same wherever I meet them. I like looking for someone special before I do anything."

She tilted her head to him, yet for some reason didn't quite open her eyes, possibly because of the tanning bulb in place above her chair. "Now that is interesting," she murmured. "How special would you rate me?"

"I'd have to know you a bit better, Verity," he answered, with a hint of interest.

"Here." Max didn't know from where, but would probably be spending the next couple of hours wondering, Verity produced a napkin and an accompanying pen to write down her information in large loopy letters that did not at all do justice to her calm, yet intriguing demeanor, and handed it to the gym leader. "Give me a call sometime. I would love to share some dinner."

Max agreed with this idea, but unfortunately reality returned with a mental reminder of how much Sarah enjoyed pulling on his hair, and how much he disliked such dermatological excavations. Certain he still had the orange juice in hand, he proceeded to where he had left his sister and his niece. Sarah was resting comfortably in her mother's arms, almost peacefully. Max, knowing better than to disturb the relaxing girl, signaled to May that he had returned by tapping her on the shoulder and depositing the drink in her hands.

"Thanks," she whispered and rocked her daughter. For a moment, thought Max as he took the seat next to them, Sarah looked almost cute.

Then he turned his attention to the napkin, which was made of suspiciously frail-looking paper that needed to be safeguarded until it could be used. "I think I'll just go to the locker," he told May, and stood up quietly so Sarah's "Attack-Uncle-Max-During-A-Crucial-Moment" alarm didn't buzz off and headed back to the lockers to protect his new treasure.

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0 very quickly realized exactly something was wrong with where he was. The door shut behind him and he heard it lock. "3," he muttered through the rather steamy room. "What's going on?" The room itself was a private bath, probably one of the perks that came with the reservation Serena had made. The lights were dim, which made it difficult for 0 to notice much of anything through the misty air. Some sort of music was playing in the background, it had an odd beat that 0 didn't like, as he preferred calm, soothing music, or rock. This was that new fad, the R&B, he had heard about while doing research in Kanto a few missions ago, before Saffron.

From somewhere in the darkness, 0 couldn't see where, Serena purred, "We're gonna have some fun." His ears caught the sound of someone suggestively removing clothing, and felt the onset of panic beginning in his accelerated heart rate. He felt some of the warm air flutter past him, and turned in a hurry to block whatever was coming from that direction. Surprisingly, nothing did, but his robe's front was now open. The steam was getting worse, it was impossible to see anything with the dim lights. 0 took a deep breath, forcing his body to calm itself. "0...I see you." Serena whispered again and her voice echoed through the tiny room. "Why don't you sit down in the hot spring? I'll be there shortly…"

"3, I really don't feel…" His body shuddered. "I don't feel comfortable with this…" But his body disagreed, and all the pent-up requirements that he had been ignoring with the serum he took roared against the wall of defenses he had built up against his body's urges. Against his will, he sank his feet into the warm water of the private bath. "3, you will stop this. Now." No answer escaped the mist. He heard something dip into the water, and started to get lightheaded. He hated the warmth of the private bath. The steam was starting to go to his head.

"Quiet down now," Serena cooed. This time, 0 could definitely tell her voice was coming from somewhere in the water, like a seductive game of Marco Polo. "Miss Serry will make all your tension go away. You deserve a nice, relaxing break, don't you?" 0's head was really swimming now, he had very little sense of position. He was aware that he was in the bath, and motion was most definitely approaching him, but not much else beyond that. Serena's voice was different too, like she was drunk. But she hadn't had a single drink at all, thought 0.

This thought process wound to a screeching halt the moment he felt her hand on his arm. He tilted his head with gritted teeth and saw Serena's face emerge from the cover of the steam clouds. Something was wrong, his brain told him. Something was terribly wrong with this situation, besides the obvious factor that he was taking in what looked suspiciously like a naked Serena. Strangely, this did not bother 0 as much as it probably would have normally. Serena was attractive, stunning, and her body glistened in the water. An odd scent, like perfume, accompanied her.

Serena's muscles were apparent, but lithe, like that of a gymnast. Of course, 0 knew this from her fighting style, which was much more graceful then his was, relying on artistic moves instead of brute force to subdue opponents. She lifted her hand and, with a tenderness that 0 was not expecting, took his palm and brought it to her chin. He caressed the soft skin with his coarse hand, and she returned the favor. Her free hand touched the scars that adorned 0's flesh. He allowed a slight moan to escape his lips at her touch, which was like that of an angel, and did not stop her. Everything outside the two of them had become inconsequential, uninteresting, dull.

For an instant, 0 even forgot the names of his former wife and daughter.

"…3," 0 murmured, as the perfume air grew more and more prominent.

"Shush." She kissed him. He reciprocated immediately, and moved his hand away from her face to grasp at her hair, drawing her closer to him, her bare skin brushing against his. She clawed at his back like a Meowth as she darted her tongue expertly into his mouth. He grasped at her back, sensing an intensification of the music, and Serena giggled in his mouth, vibrating through his teeth.

The music was beginning to play an important role in their business, as it seemed to be getting louder, and Serena began moving to its beat. "0," she panted, red in the face as she broke the kiss, "you have…no idea…how long I've been waiting for this." She kissed his neck, his shoulders, his chest. "I need you."

0 was quite uncertain exactly what she was saying, he was too caught up in the heat of the moment to pay much attention. The scent of the air filled his nostrils with the natural perfume, the music in his ears, it was all too intoxicating. "How much?" he growled and grasped at the strands of her hair suggestively, with a silly smirk on his face.

"From the first day we met," she murmured, "I've wanted nothing more than to have you, to love you, to be with you. Even before May left you."

"Who's May?" 0 asked dimly.

She smirked. "That's the right way of thinking, baby," she murmured to him. She lowered her hands to his waist. "Want to keep going?" 0 glanced up at her. Denying her seemed like such an impossibility.

"Oh…yes," he replied. "Yes…" His heart rate was accelerating, and he briefly thought of how incredibly dull the vacation to the spa might have been had he not followed Serena into the room.

"0," she whispered, and dropped an octave, as if suspicious they might be overheard by a voyeur. "Do you want to be with me?" He distinctly noticed her voice was getting deeper, huskier.

Common sense took a swan dive out 0's brain, as he leaned forward and kissed his partner deeply. Serena, overwhelmed by passion, forced him back against the wall of the private bath.

"That's more like it," she purred. "Let's make like Pokemon in the springtime, Agent 0." 0 pulled her into the water, and she followed.

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"0," she gasped, just audible enough for him to hear, "I love you!"

_ Pheromones_.

0's brain was incredibly slow to respond. Possibly because the majority of his blood was busy elsewhere, but also because he felt rather stupid for not realizing in the first place. Either way, this declaration of love brought his brain railing back to the ground. He sniffed the air again, this time not searching for the scent of Serena's sweat, but rather the odor of the perfume that had been causing their increasing lapsing judgment. He caught it, just barely, in the air, scenting the haze around them.

"0..." Serena mumbled. She was spent, and collapsed next to him. "That was…amazing. The best…I've ever had." She hadn't even noticed that his thoughts were returning to his head and her eyes fluttered closed.

"What are we doing here?" he asked aloud and glanced around. The past hour or so, he couldn't remember anything. What was going on? "Why am I-" He glanced down and noticed for the first time that he was stark naked. What was the reasoning behind this? Then, he noticed that Serena was lying nearby, roughly about as naked if not as completely naked as he was.

Being very careful not to wake the sleeping beast, knowing that the slightest nudge in the wrong direction would prove fatal, 0 grabbed his trunks and contemplated what he assumed he had probably just done. They had had sex. Probably very well, if Serena's reaction to it was any indicator. This was problematic for several reasons. The first being that he had done absolutely nothing to stop it, the second being that their behavior was likely because of the pheromones that were being pumped into the room, and the third was the room's floor had started to rumble, something 0 was certain didn't have anything to do with him and Serena.

_ Sappho_. With a growl, 0 dressed himself quickly, fairly certain of who had been responsible for this. Serena would never stoop to messing with his brain, no matter how much she wanted him, and she certainly wouldn't subject herself to the mind-altering chemicals of the pheromones for cheap sex. But the Dark Sapphire Ranger, who was clearly more intelligent than he had let on in the last fight, would, and might have thought it funny. The rumbling continued and 0 realized with a sudden mental slap to the face exactly what had happened.

"Pi," the Golden Ranger said and lifted his morpher to his face. He hadn't brought the com-link, it would have looked too weird in a spa. "This is 0. Respond."

The device crackled and the mouse finally emerged. "0, is that you?" it asked. "My transmission has been blocked for so long! You need to get out of _Petal_ immediately! You're in incredible danger!"

"I know," said 0 and glanced to Serena. "We got drugged and…disposed of. What's the situation outside the room?"

"It's Sappho," answered the Pikachu. "He's taking hostages and killing them one by one. He's looking for the Dark Emerald. Why is he looking for it here?"

A horrifying image emerged in 0's head. "Max has the Dark Emerald, Pi," 0 explained. "It's not active yet, but he's probably being scouted by Sappho for their organization. We need to get to Max before anything happens." What would happen exactly if the Dark Emerald was activated 0 hadn't the slightest clue, only that it could not possibly be a good thing.

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The blasts rocked the foundations of the building. It was like the Saffron Contest, or the museum, all over again, only this time Max was fairly certain there was a slimmer chance of escape. Above him, the ceiling was starting to crumble due to the collapsing support beams. Pieces of rubble were falling from higher floors, crashing into the pools below in gigantic splashes. Max could see people falling under the sections of ceiling.

"Gallade, to me!" he shouted, running from the lockers and into the main room. At his command, the green and white Pokemon leapt up and, in one brilliant motion, emerged in front of him, waving its sword-like hands in defense of its trainer. Max used what little experience he had gained from his fight with Keean Toby to analyze the situation: the structures were collapsing from overbearing walls and the shattered foundation. "We need to get everyone out of here, it's probably the blue thing again."

"_Lade, Gallade_," answered his Pokemon. It then grunted and pointed one of its odd arms towards an emergency exit located on the south wall. Max nodded and turned to everyone still inside.

"Everyone!" he ordered over the screams. "Get out of here! There's a door right there!" Absolutely no one that could hear him argued, and in a rush of panic stampeded in the direction of the exit. All save one. Max looked towards this individual, who seemed rather giddy as he exited the pool on the far right, his face agleam with apparent madness. His hair, black as night, was damp from the water, but his eyes glittered with azure evil.

"Hey, hey, hey, Max," he cackled. His voice showed no apparent concern for his falling surroundings. "Why are you telling everyone to leave?" His body was lithe, completely different from what Max knew he could transform into, as upon his neck dangled a chain similar to Max's, only it was glowing and Max's wasn't. "That's not part of the plan, man. You've gotta work with me if you want to stay alive." He tilted his head to his side. "What do you say?"

"I think I'll take my chances," he retorted, and the gym leader was joined by a second Pokemon, Keean Toby's Riolu, which jumped up behind Gallade with a fierce desire to battle in its dog-like eyes. "Gallade, Psycho Cutter! Riolu, Force Palm!" Riolu sprang up howling and attacked. Gallade, unwilling to stand behind while a Baby Pokemon attacked head-on, charged its bladed arms with the Psychic energy, then rushed forward behind Riolu, who smashed directly into Sappho with a forward lunge, downing the evil ranger with a single blow. Reminding himself to ask Keean Toby exactly what kind of training the man was putting his young Pokemon through, Max glanced as Gallade followed up with its own attack, forcing a gurgling moan out of the enemy. Both Pokemon retreated, knowing better then to stand too close to their opponents, and regrouped around Max.

"How you like them apples?" asked Max confidently. The Golden and White Rangers had to be on their way soon, all he needed to do was keep Sappho from transforming and killing him. Piece of cake.

Sappho coughed and jumped back to his feet, as if nothing had happened. His Dark Sapphire was gleaming, and ignited in a fury of blue light. Sappho's aura empowered him, and he walked towards one of the few remaining columns still standing. "Let's see if your Dark Emerald can match my Dark Sapphire, boy!" he cackled and tore the piece of architecture right out of the wall. With a sweep, Sappho tossed the column like a spear directly at Max, howling with laughter.

Max, because his attentions were elsewhere, did not notice the Dark Emerald burst into flame on his chest, but was aware of the fact that his heart felt like it was on fire. With a roar, Max acted on impulse and punched the column. His body flashed green for a single instant, as the Dark Gem worked to keep its bonder alive, and the stone column broke, scattering pieces of rock and mortar behind the gym leader. As a direct result of this, Max did not notice Sappho's movements, far too stunned with his display of strength. It was only after the last of the debris crumbled did the gym leader notice what was fighting with Sappho.

Gallade, fighting to protect Keean Toby's Riolu from injury, had been caught by Sappho. Its neck was between Sappho's almost carefree grasp, and its face was turning purple. Max ran forward, all sense of personal safety abandoned. "Get your hands off Gallade!" he roared and attacked. Unfortunately, Sappho seemed to think there was something wrong with Max, and the evil ranger smashed Max across the face with his own Pokemon's body. Gallade grunted as its legs met its trainer, and Max went down, with a loud crack issuing where his skull met the polished tile on the floor.

"Say bye-bye, Max," whispered Sappho, and tightened his grip on the Pokemon. Gallade's face was turning an even deeper shade of purple and it had stopped fighting Sappho. "You see, Max, we decided that if you weren't going to pick a soul, we would chose one for you! And for you to have a soul, we need a dead Pokemon, don't we?" He jerked his fingers and Max shrieked.

"_Lade…_"

_ Snap._

Gallade's neck broke suddenly, and Sappho kept pulling until the bladed Pokemon's head came clean off its body. Max watched as its body crumpled to the ground, where it lay unmoving, a pool of dark blood coming from its severed neck. Gallade's head, still clutched by Sappho, was transfixed by Gallade's final expressions of suffering etched on its face. Max felt sick, destroyed, and his eyes burned with tears. Something very minute, something very tiny, simply snapped in Max' head.

"How's this feel, Max?" Sappho taunted, dangling the head in front of him, the blood pouring all over the tile and Sappho's own flesh. "But maybe you need to see the death for yourself, right?" The sickening act, the deplorable deed, would have horrified even someone who hadn't known Gallade, been friends with it, trained side by side with it.

"_Shut up right now_!" Max screamed, his breath ragged and his voice hoarse with unleashed rage. "_I will kill you. I will destroy you. I will batter your corpse onto the ground like a rag doll_!" He glared at Sappho, his eyes watery. "_We will end you_!" Dangling on his neck, the Dark Emerald began to pulsate, only this time it didn't match his heartbeat, but continued to increase its speed, until it became nothing but a brilliant flashing green light.

Max's eyes changed hue from their natural color to a fierce jade, and around him a powerful aura emerged, shrouding him in a burning green. It warmed his flesh, and he felt comforted by its touch. "We will kill you," he muttered, not knowing who the other person was he was referencing. "_We will kill you, you sick freak. We will kill you and bash your head against the wall with our bare hands_!" Max was no longer thinking, someone else was doing that for him. His aura transformed from a loose, open cloud into something more defined, something that almost looked like a translucent green version of Gallade. Max lowered his head, and grabbed the chain with the glaring Dark Emerald. It disconnected easily, and he lowered the chain to his side in his right hand. "_Now we're angry_." His voice echoed with power, almost as if two people were speaking.

Sappho smiled, and chortled with glee. "That's it," he hissed, and his azure eyes glittered with delight as he took in the strength of the fully powered Dark Emerald. Sappho grabbed his chain, mimicking what Max had just done, and wrapped the Dark Sapphire's chain all over his chest. It rounded diagonally off of his right shoulder and criss-crossed all over his chest until finally the last strand of the chain carrying the Dark Sapphire was lodged in the center. "Let's see if your Dark Emerald can match my Dark Sapphire, Max!" He used his free left hand to press the Dark Sapphire into his flesh.

"_Dark Gem Ignite_!"

Someone threw Max's hands up for him to shield him from the azure light that burst from Sappho. The Dark Sapphire Ranger's chain exploded and became a design of rough black cloth on the ranger's chest. The Dark Sapphire, enlarged into a giant blue gem, shined brilliantly against the armor, connected to the outsides of the chest by the chain design. In Sappho's hand was the scimitar, poised for battle. "Show me, Dark Emerald Ranger, what you can become!" He howled with laughter, his voice echoing along the corridors of the shattering building. "Fight me!"

The gym leader wasn't really aware of his surroundings, and as such didn't even budge when a piece of mortar fell right next to him. His head was pounding, and there was someone inside it shrieking for revenge, for the chance to end Sappho's existence once and for all. It wanted to tear the Dark Sapphire Ranger into shreds. The chain in his hands enlarged and toughened into hardened metal and, with a flick of Max's wrist, the giant chain wound up his right arm in a spiraling motion, crossed over his back, and wound right down his other arm, ending in his left hand.

The voice in his head pushed him forward and he did as the voice commanded. With a shriek of rage, Max pressed the Dark Emerald into his chained right forearm, and his body exploded with a burst of green fire, transforming, adapting, mutating into a new form. And though this, he could hear his own voice echo through the walls, though he couldn't remember anymore if he was the one to cry the words out.

"_Dark Gem Ignite_!"


	13. Morph 13

**Morph Thirteen: Meet the New Ranger**

His body was of emerald fire.

No one was in the room, aside from the sapphire creature before him and the few onlookers who dared remain in the crumbling building. But his attentions were diverted elsewhere, focusing on the Dark Sapphire Ranger through the visor that now lay upon his head, shielding his face and covering the explicit expression of murderous intent that sat on his lips and in his eyes. Across the room, standing over the corpse of a Pokemon, stood Sappho, rather pleased with himself. Oh, the man of emerald fire could smell his foe's smugness, it was as clear as day. He clenched his fists and noticed that his arms felt constricted. He took a step forward, now aware that he…no…that _they_ were clothed in something, and looked down into the water to see his reflection.

Their armor resembled a Pokemon's…their head was like a gladiator's helmet. Circular, smooth, until he looked at the top, where some sort of adornment that looked like a Gallade's face, parting their own face with a triangular shape that's nose tilted down to where their nose appeared to be. Everything else of the face was pitch-black, but that triangular shape…and the extension that rose from his forehead and continued to the back of his head, was completely green.

Their eyes took in the rest of his body, pure emerald from the waist up, save for the chains that were constricting their arms, which were black. The whole design of his clothes bore so many similarities to a Gallade…they thought, as they noticed that there was no belt, and the green ended abruptly around his waist to become black all the way to his boots. In the center of his chest was a giant emerald, gleaming with power.

_ What…are we?_

There was nothing to describe this…creature they had become, no words came to mind. Of course, they was too busy listening to the voice in the back of their head, nagging that they had to take revenge, that they had to fight. Something needed to be done, but the creature wasn't quite sure what. Then they noticed that someone across the room was laughing, and considered what the voice in the back of their head said. Perhaps it would be a good idea for some quiet time. After all, they wasn't quite sure what was going on, and some good old fashioned silence always seemed to do wonders for cleverly-hidden memories.

The figure clad in blue seemed to disagree, as he continued to cackle like he had made the greatest joke in the world. The creature lowered itself into a crouching position, as it had been trained to. Memories of the beginning of combat, hearing its name as it was released… No. He brushed thoughts of being caged from his mind, and listened calmly to what the voice told him to do. They had to rush the opponent, who was armed with a sword, and hopefully catch him off guard. Yes, that would be a good start. But then he noticed the chains circling his arms, clinking with every move he made. What possible use did they have?

He didn't have time to think too much about it though, as he rushed forward, every bit the feral creature that the voice told him he was. They came up quickly on the blue man, who seemed rather startled at the attack, and threw down the curved sword in an endeavor to stop him. How foolish, thought the voice, and the creature's arm raised to counter the attack. The chains, wound so tightly around his body, stopped the sharp blade right in its tracks, preventing it from digging into the new fabric of the suit. Unable to support both himself and the creature, the blue man fell into the water, the jade monster attacking in earnest with all of its might.

He didn't notice, possibly because the voice failed to mention it to him, that his attacks were doing nothing to damage the blue man, perhaps because of the tough hide on his foe, and the fact that the creature attacked with nothing but his fists. But the pounding continued, with the blue man underwater, still somehow gurgling the laughter that the green monster was so wishing to silence.

But it didn't. He hauled the blue man up to the surface with their hands and murmured, "_Laaaade._" He was unsure exactly why he would say such a thing, but it seemed to express the fury and hatred that the voice was causing him to feel. The man looked through his blue helmet and laughed again, infuriating the emerald man even more.

"Gone primal, have we?" asked the man, whom the voice told the creature was the Dark Sapphire Ranger, who tilted his head with his inquiry. "Well, that happens sometimes, but not to us big boys." The Dark Emerald Ranger grunted and the jade-clothed man felt something viciously punch his abdomen, propelling him off the azure warrior. Damaged, but nowhere near finished, the emerald man landed hunched over on the ground nearest to the pool. "Very good, Dark Emerald Ranger." The beast pondered with the voice in its head whether that was its name and decided that it could do worse as the Dark Sapphire Ranger, or Sappho, as its voice kept telling it, rose from the water, his armor drenched in water.

The Dark Emerald Ranger growled, which sounded like two animals baring their teeth at once, and launched a second attack. The chains on his arms apparently did more than defend the Dark Emerald Ranger, for he blocked the curved blade with one of their arms and used the other to smash into the kneecap of Sappho's right leg. This had no effect other than to bruise the jade ranger's arm, but it didn't seem to hurt him as he continued his berserker-like rampage. With neither ranger capable of taking the upper hand, the battle raged fiercely for about two minutes, completely uninterrupted before someone attempted to intervene. This did little to assuage the savage behavior of the Dark Emerald Ranger.

"_Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power_!"

The emerald beast snarled at the figure across the pool, clad in gold like some gaudy paladin. They would deal with this newcomer immediately after Sappho was put down and strategically ripped to shreds to prevent him from disturbing the Dark Emerald Ranger ever again. After some slight consideration, the monster and his voice decided the tongue would be the first thing to go, ripped right out from inside the helmet.

But the golden figure across the water seemed to have a different opinion of the situation than the Dark Emerald Ranger did, and within moments had run along the wet floors to a proximity near both Dark Gem Rangers that the jade man wasn't quite comfortable with and Sappho seemed delighted about, causing further fury from the voice in the man's head. They should kill both of these nitwits. His hands curled themselves into fists and snarled at this golden paladin. In response, a gigantic sword appeared in his hands, made of gold and darkness, which he clutched easily in his right hand. The paladin looked down on the two Dark Gem Rangers and cracked his knuckles.

"Max Birch," said the mechanical voice that belonged to the paladin. "Stand down and return to human form." It took the beast several seconds to figure out the paladin was talking to it and then the paladin turned to Sappho. "I am going to destroy you, Sappho." The meanings of these words were lost to what was apparently Max Birch.

Sappho cackled and shouldered his blade. "Like my little present, Golden Boy?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I thought that you could use a little relaxing time with your…assistant." He then began to giggle, an annoying sound that made the jaded man irritated. "Did you like it? Did you like the feel of her? Did you like it?"

"_Go_!"

The Dark Emerald Ranger wasn't quite sure how the paladin did it, but somehow the golden man managed to move faster than lightning and dealt Sappho a blow that sent him spiraling into the nearest wall. As he apparently wasn't quite finished, he burst forth again after the depraved Dark Sapphire Ranger, eager to deal the death blow. But this was something the beast wanted to do, its voice whispered to it so discretely, and the paladin would not be the one to deprive it of its right to utterly savage the corpse of the Dark Sapphire Ranger. Hunched over, the Dark Emerald Ranger ran forward and jumped, grabbing onto the paladin and forcing him away from its prey.

"Get off me, Max!" ordered the paladin, who seemed to think his new opponent understood what he was saying. The Dark Emerald Ranger's chained arms refused to relinquish their prize, forcing the paladin to batter Max against the nearest wall until his grip loosened, upon which he used his free arm to hurl the beast away from him, where it landed gracefully and roared like a wild Pokemon at him.

The creature was not enjoying this, oh no. Why couldn't the paladin simply let it deal with the azure freak on its own? Was it that hard to understand? Sure, Max couldn't quite understand it, and he didn't really understand why he was being called Max by the paladin either. The voice in his head soothed him, telling him that all he needed to do was destroy both of the adversaries, the paladin first and then his real prey, the Dark Sapphire Ranger, who had gotten up and was now standing around gibbering meaninglessly at the paladin. The paladin, confused, didn't know which of the Dark Gem Rangers would attack him, knowing only that he needed to be prepared from both sides.

It was Max who lunged first, fairly certain that he could pummel the paladin quickly. But Golden Boy was quick and blocked Max's attempt at taking off his head with the giant sword. The Dark Emerald Ranger stepped onto the outstretched sword, annoyed that this was taking so long, before leaping off it like a springboard and smashing Golden Boy in the face with a brutal kick. But the paladin's armor held and the attack did very little damage. Golden Boy swung his sword in a frenzy, hoping to keep Max from attacking again, but that failed. The paladin was too stiff, to strategic to be able to stop the giddy instincts of the voice in Max's head, who told him what to do. Together, the voice and the body dodged each sword swing, blocking with the chained arms or just simply getting out of the way. It was so easy….thought the beast, as it lunged again, knocking Golden Boy on his back. The beast lunged, eager to savage the man's face.

But, strangely, this was the part where things became very confusing for the Dark Emerald Ranger. The paladin, who rolled out of the way just in time to keep himself in one piece, seemed more of the enemy than anyone else. Even the Dark Sapphire Ranger seemed a better alternative, whispered the voice, but a nagging doubt kept the beast from believing it. The voice and the beast, after some discussion, reached the conclusion that they would fight the paladin before the Dark Sapphire Ranger and, depending on what happened in that fight, they would go from there.

The Dark Sapphire Ranger seemed to get the same idea, because he slashed at the air that the Golden Boy was currently occupying, forcing the paladin to concentrate on the azure freak. The beast, therefore, was perfectly free to smash into Golden Boy's gut with his chained fists, over and over again. Golden Boy grunted, but his tough armor seemed to be exactly what was needed to deal with the beast's methods of attack. But Sappho wasn't one to let the beast have all the fun, and applied further pressure onto Golden Boy's sword and kicked the paladin viciously in the back. Golden Boy went down, but vanished with a crack of loud noise before he hit the floor, emerging from thin air across the water, near some of the worst foundation damage. The ceiling was caving in above him, but maybe that was a ploy, thought the voice suspiciously, warning Max to beware the falling mortar and pieces of ceiling.

"Hey, Eme," said Sappho. The beast somehow understood the Dark Sapphire Ranger, and tilted its head to see him. "Listen, this boyo ain't got nothing on you and me, okay? Let's bash his skull into his stupid little costume." The beast growled its approval and wondered what the paladin's flesh tasted like. But he would get to experience that later, despite the fact that the helmet bonded to his body might impede this desire.

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This was not good.

0, for all his skill and power, was clearly outclassed by the two Dark Gem Rangers. He could have handled Sappho, or at the very least kept him at bay long enough to stop anyone from getting hurt, but this new form that Max had assumed was frightening. The berserker rampage it seemed to eager to indulge in was making things difficult for the Golden Ranger, and Sappho's taunts were only making things worse. He kept the Bolt Blade up, in case the berserker Dark Emerald Ranger attacked again.

"0!" The Golden Ranger, utilizing his visor interface, didn't need to look to see Serena standing behind him, now wearing her White Ranger uniform. "0, what's going on?" she asked, clutching her war fan. "I…I can't remember…what was in that room?"

0 let out a long, tired groan. "We'll deal with that after we finish this," he muttered.

"Is it just me, or did these things multiply?" she wondered, in an attempt at witty dialog, as she stared at the Dark Emerald and Dark Sapphire Rangers. "Is that thing May's brother?" She pointed at the jade berserker and it growled at her. 0 nodded.

"Something happened," he explained. "Max was bonded to the Dark Emerald, but it was dormant. Sappho must have triggered its activation or something."

Sappho giggled, and bobbed his head to confirm 0's suspicions. "Very good, lover boy," he murmured. "This little pup here's got a lot of work to do when it comes to how we Dark Gems do business, but I reckon he'll be the perfect person to wring his own sister's neck. Don't you think so?"

"3," 0 said to his partner, "handle big blue for me and I'll crack some sense into Max." Serena, he knew, would be better suited to fighting someone too slow to really hit her. Meanwhile, he could take the berserker she wouldn't be able to handle. Serena nodded and 0 turned his focus on the individual covered in wrought-iron chains. "_Go_!" The Synchronization Drive was getting easier to use, as the gauge in the visor interface seemed to be completely immune to the amount of times Agility was used. He burst forward, swinging the Bolt Blade like an oversized baseball bat and whacked the thing that had been Max right through a deteriorating wall into another section of the spa. Before Sappho could retaliate, 0 was already on Max's tail.

"Pi, return the Bolt Blade and download the Lightning Laser," 0 ordered. The Dark Emerald Ranger was bouncing off the walls, drawing him farther and farther away from Sappho and Serena. He needed long-range weaponry.

"Downloading," answered Pi, and within moments the shotgun replaced the giant sword. Not missing a beat, 0 lifted the gun and targeted the Dark Emerald Ranger. He shot off two rounds of lightning, missing Max by a hair both times. On all fours, the Dark Emerald Ranger leapt through the corridor, until he tore through a door seemingly at random, shattering the hinges with brute force rather than open the door like a sane individual. 0 crushed the rest of the door on his way through.

But Max was nowhere to be seen.

Cautiously, the Golden Ranger made his way through his new area: an outdoor bathing area, one of those segregated areas which allowed nude swimming. Outside, the sky had gotten rather cloudy, it had been so sunny earlier… "Pi, can you see him?" he asked the Pikachu, scanning the waters for any movement. The visor blinked a few times, checking for temperature inconsistencies with the heated water.

"Behind you!" announced the Pikachu. 0 whirled around and saw the Dark Emerald Ranger dangling by a piece of chain that extended from his gauntlets from a pipe overhead. 0 let loose a single shot and Max took it square in the chest, using the momentum to flip through the air, kick against the door frame, and tackle the Golden Ranger with a lunging thrust. The charge worked and 0 was thrown into the scalding water, thankfully shielded by his Kevlar-enhanced uniform. That was not to say he didn't have difficulties, as his ranger uniform wasn't of any particular use underwater. After much struggling to disengage the beast from his person, 0 surfaced and blasted where he noticed movement. He missed and took down some of the wall that separated the open-air bath section from the other gender's area. Then, a thought came to him.

He leapt out of the water, knowing from experience that his uniform would not insulate him from electrical attacks and shot blindly into the water, disregarding that where he was shooting was nowhere near Max was. This did not seem to change the electrical discharge that resulted, as the entire pond became a lighted field of pain for the Dark Emerald Ranger, who screeched in rage as his body twisted and corkscrewed with the bolts of lightning that coursed through him.

"Pi, do you have communication with 3?" he asked. He could keep Max at bay long enough to contact his partner.

After a few beeps, Pi answered. "Contact linked," it announced. "Transmitting broadcast signal."

"3, what's your status?" 0 demanded, the instant the communication channel opened.

"Get back here right now!" she ordered, it sounded like she was having all sorts of fun. "This thing seems to have a fetish with opening me up and I don't have Kevlar!"

"On it," he replied calmly. "Regroup in two minutes."

"Roger." The transmission ended.

Max, undaunted by his recent foray into electric shock therapy, leapt from the water and lashed out with one of his chains, wrapping it along the Lightning Laser's barrel. With a jerk, the Dark Emerald Ranger tore it from its owner and twirled the barrel twice before blasting 0 with a fervor that caused the Golden Ranger alarm. One shot grazed his shoulder and he winced from the pain that distributed itself along his body thanks to the recent trip into the water.

"_Laaaaaade_," growled the emerald monster. Without thinking, 0 downloaded the Bolt Blade again, unable to disengage the Lightning Laser from someone else's grasp. With the giant blade he charged forward, eager to reclaim his weapon. Whatever the Dark Emerald was, it had fully subjected Max to its control. Sure, the gym leader had been physically fit, but this thing was overkill! It blocked his strike with the barrel of the gun leaning on its shoulder, and with its free hand snaked its extendable chain to wrap around 0's right arm. With a twist, the Golden Ranger used it to throw his adversary off-balance and smashed it with the Bolt Blade's blunt surface. Then, keeping hold of the chain, dragged Max back.

"Get a grip, idiot," 0 ordered and wrapped the chain around the Dark Emerald Ranger's neck. "I so don't have time for this." The creature gasped, clearly uncomfortable with being chocked, which meant it had at least one weakness. It trashed against the Golden Ranger, dropping the Lightning Laser which was immediately sent back to PKM and was forced onto its knees thanks to 0's grip.

"Pi, analyze this thing," he said.

"With what?" it retorted. "I can take his heartbeat, but that's it. You'll need Serena's scanners to get something from this thing."

0 groaned. "Bakaguru's gonna need more than a heartbeat to analyze him." Max was beginning to slow down, to 0 relaxed his grip so not to choke him. "Record the fight with the visor's camera. Maybe that can help him." Pi's analysis display on the visor altered to show a timer on the top right. It was at that moment that Max figured out where 0's crotch was located and his fist smashed into it. For all its armor and protection, 0 felt searing pain and loosened his grip on the chain, which retracted right into Max's right gauntlet and was followed by a whip-slap that sent 0 reeling into the floor.

Their positions were now reversed, for the Dark Emerald Ranger decided that he would attempt to take an eye for an eye and wrapped 0's body in a full-chain bind, ending with wrapping the metal around 0's neck and tightening. Thankful for whatever had possessed Bakaguru to program his uniform with reinforced fabric and Kevlar, 0 felt his ability to breathe constrict, but not cease.

"_Gaaaaallaaaade_," growled the Dark Emerald Ranger, staring into the face of 0's visor. 0 noticed something different about the Dark Gem Ranger's visor…it was so primal, even though it was nothing but a metallic helmet. It looked so much like a Gallade in rage. What had triggered this?

"Max…you've gotta snap out of this," he grunted. His ability to breathe was getting impeded and he couldn't wrangle out of the chains he had been tied with. "Please." Inside the visor, he felt pain in his neck as it started getting closed off, and a mass amount of beeping was going on, informing him that several systems inside the suit were in danger of shutting down.

"0, we are having problems," Pi announced.

"Aware," 0 groaned. "What are our options?"

Pi seemed to hesitate, as if something was wrong with the option it was considering. "We have to utilize the Synchronization Drive again and use Volt Tackle."

"Is the tank full?"

"Our energy is at full power. Doing it now should shock him into a state of unconsciousness." But doing so would have the same problems with 0, or it would at the very least prevent him from being able to move. "0, it's the only way. I'm sorry."

"Fire it up," he ordered. The gauge at the bottom of the screen had been charging all through the fight, and now beeped its activation, producing the two available options, Volt Tackle and Agility. "Synchronization Drive: Volt Tackle!"

This time, the lightning _ripped_ through his body, reopening the wound Sappho had given him in their last brawl. 0 shrieked in agony as the electricity dispersed through the chains connecting him to Max, and the Dark Emerald Ranger roared in pain when it came his turn to experience voltage powerful enough to fry a common man. Max became overloaded, his Dark Emerald in a constant state of flux trying to manage pain and heal injuries as quickly as they formed.

With what little of his mind, the Golden Ranger gave one final push, and threw Max, their bodies coursing with electricity, into the nearest body of water. The shrieks earlier were nothing compared to what the Dark Emerald Ranger uttered when it touched water, resembling the echoes of a horrifying death. 0 lowered his visor and did the very best that he could to keep himself standing. "Pi," he gasped. "Damage report."

"Synchronization Drive is currently unavailable," it announced. "Your wound is open again, and some of the suit's systems are being short-circuited by the blood flow."

0 nodded and took a step forward. The Dark Emerald Ranger was sprawled under the water and didn't seem to be moving. However, 0's visor picked up the twitch on the left side of its body and shortly after the beast shuddered its way out of the water, and staggered back to its feet. But, instead of attacking again, something subtly different occurred. The chains that the Dark Emerald Ranger wore shattered, and the monster powered down into the form of Max Birch, Petalburg's Gym Leader and 0's ex-brother-in-law.

"I…I…" Max tried to speak, but something was clearly impeding him. Finally, after several attempts, Max just gave up and passed out on the floor. 0 looked him over. The Dark Emerald was clasped on a powerful-looking tough chain, right in a socket that hung around the man's neck. 0 approached him and took hold of the Dark Emerald, thinking he could take it. Not so, for the Emerald's touch caused him untold agony for daring to remove it from its host. 0 gagged as his stomach clenched like something had squeezed it from the inside, and dropped the medallion, whereupon it clattered to the ground.

"Can't be removed," he muttered in disappointment. A new Dark Gem Ranger was bad, sure, but it was even worse when a new one was someone who, under normal circumstances, was one of the nicest people he had ever met, one of his old friends. "I'm sorry, Max." He patted the man's head in sorrow.

"0," said Pi and activated a channel of communication without his consent. "Emergency distress signal from Serena."

"0...!" blared a voice through the helmet, rattling the recovering Golden Ranger. "Help me!" 0 stood up from Max.

"What's going on, 3?" he asked.

"Sappho's…" The sentence ended, but 0 could hear a distinct laughter in the background he knew all too well. The transmission ended shortly after and filled 0's visor with the sound of static.

"Communication terminated."

"3!"

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Like fluid water, the White Ranger spun through the air, landing gracefully behind the Dark Sapphire Ranger and punching the small of his back with the blunt edge of her Frost Fan. She had the fastest downloading system available to PKM Rangers, primarily because Bakaguru upgraded her morpher before any other ranger. She only had to think of a weapon and it emerged in her hands. Sappho struck back, twisting his scimitar behind his body in a vain attempt to strike her.

She opened the fan and the sword jammed itself in between the individual pieces, mere centimeters away from her visor. She sealed up the fan again, and twirled the sword. Sappho, unwilling to let go, twirled with his weapon and landed on his back. Serena hopped over Sappho's body, landing her two petite feet on his stomach before pirouetting to the nearby ground.

"Come now, big blue," murmured Serena in her cute, adorable voice. "That all you got?"

The Dark Sapphire Ranger laughed. "Not even close," he retorted and leapt back to his feet, flailing around with his sword. Each cut was perfectly planned, perfectly executed, yet every single one missed. Serena leapt and tucked her away through a performance that might have made every gymnast in Hoenn seethe with envy. The Frost Fan came down, blocking a final lunge towards her midsection, which was followed by a sweeping kick to the Dark Sapphire Ranger's knees that sent him sprawling to the ground yet again.

"Now this is just pathetic," asked Serena coyly. "Come on, 0 makes this look so hard, but I guess he was just showing off for me. I'll have to reward him later…" She giggled, she knew exactly how she would be rewarding him.

"Really?" inquired Sappho with a groan, before he climbed right back to his feet. "And what would that involve? Candlelit dinner? Movie? Or just good, old fashioned fornication?" He hissed the last word, and advanced forward with a small, cackling giggle of his own.

"That's disgusting, Sapphy," she replied and sidestepped his lurching sword swipe. "0 and I have a much more intimate connection."

"Oh, is that right?" Sappho kept coming, even though he kept missing. "Is that why Golden Boy doesn't notice you, why he is oblivious to your affections?" Serena, hurt by the words, stumbled and was punched in the face by Sappho's fist. "Yes, that must be it." He grabbed her by her neck and head-butted her. "Your close, personal connection to Golden Boy."

Serena, slightly woozy, still dodged his next attack. "Shut up," she hissed and jabbed him with her fan. He ignored the pain and lunged.

"He just wants Birch!" he screamed with glee and swung his sword. This time, his sight was keen, and he sliced at Serena's glove. A spatter of blood appeared, along with a gasp of pain from the White Ranger. He moaned with pleasure at the sound and continued his attack. "He's nothing but a machine in a human's body, little girl. You might want to jump his bones, but he'll never let you."

He slashed her again, this time causing her to lose her grip on the Frost Fan. "At least," he added, as he smashed into her, "not willingly!" She fell to the ground, breathing hard from her injuries. He laughed as he towered over her, his blade spotted red with blood. It glimmered.

"Had to drug you," he explained and he stabbed her through the shoulder. "Had to trick you, just so he'd touch you!" He chuckled and tore the sword out of her body, sending blood flying upon her costume. He giggled as he sliced her leg, just to make sure she couldn't walk away. "Oh, and touch you he did!"

"What're you…" she breathed, "talking about?"

"The steam room, girlie!" he howled and stuck her like a pincushion in her thigh. She cried out in pain and clutched her leg. "Can't you remember it?"

"No…" She hadn't…her head felt like…it was made of air. "I…didn't…"

"You did and you loved it!" cheered the Dark Sapphire Ranger and he struck her again and again, making her uniform look more like a Red Ranger's than White's. She was sprawled on the floor and tried in vain to crawl towards the exit. He helped her, by grabbing her by the scruff of her suit and tossing her headfirst into the wall. The tile broke and she slumped to the ground, struggling for consciousness. "I watched the whole thing! Soooooo gooooooood, girlie. Sooooooo goooooood." He rubbed his arms around himself, moaning to himself. "Oh…want me to go lower…"

"No!" she screamed and shook her head. "I didn't! I didn't!"

He grabbed her and he cackled. "Oh, but you did. Want me to burn you a tape copy?" He bashed her head against the wall again and again. "He was magnificent! But you, not so much. Were you just too self-absorbed to let him enjoy himself?" He jabbed her in the back with his sword. She shrieked. "You know, the key to any good relationship is compatibility in the bedroom!"

She screeched in protest. But the more she did, the more he stabbed her. "No…" she murmured… "Is this…" _how I die_? She didn't want to die like this, she wanted to be with 0, she needed to be with him.

_ I love him_.

"Open communications to the Golden Ranger," she breathed. She needed to tell him. She had to, before she was out of time…

The communication window was opened by Pi, and she used up the last of her strength to send her final message. "0...!" she shouted, as loud as her weak voice allowed. "Help me!" Her breath was ragged, she noticed the systems were shutting down in her visor.

"What's going on, 3?" he asked.

She took a breath. "Sappho's…" She choked and coughed up blood into her helmet… "he's got me…he's going to kill me…0! Help me!" Then, she paused, for she had to scream when he stabbed her again. "This might be the…last time…I speak to you. 0...I need to tell you that I…I…"

"Who're you babbling to?" Sappho asked and stabbed her again.

Only then did she noticed that her systems were shutting down, her visor was opening to release the blood and allow her to see. The communication had been terminated, probably from the blood she had coughed up.

_ I love you._

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Rage was the only emotion running through the Golden Ranger's veins. The serum, designed to suppress his adrenaline secretion, had failed, and a natural burst of energy ran through 0's body, pushing him to ignore his injuries and the damage that had already been done to his ranger uniform. Serena took priority over everything and, in an instant, he emerged at her side, standing between her and the Dark Sapphire Ranger.

"I'm so sorry, 3," he muttered and bent down to pick her up. Her white uniform was stained with red from the wounds hidden under the spandex. "I shouldn't have left you alone."

"Just…" She coughed, and her body sagged, "glad…you got here…on time." She tilted her head weakly towards Sappho, who once again seemed to be enjoying himself, drinking in her pain like a fine wine. "Be…careful."

The rage was starting to get to him, her voice was diluting into the white noise of his anger. "I promise he'll be in pieces by the time I finish him." He opened his visor, so she could see his face. "I swear it."

She gasped. Instead of the cold, calculated fighter she desired, the face that met hers was that of someone she had not seen for what felt like years. The determination, the fortitude, the aura of sheer willpower. She smiled and lifted her glove to touch his face. "I was wondering…when you'd get here…_dark warrior_." Her eyes rolled back and she slipped into unconsciousness.

The dark warrior lowered the White Ranger's body to the ground and sealed up her visor. After doing so, he ordered Pi to cover his face and turned to the Dark Sapphire Ranger. The visor reapplied just as he looked up. He lifted his right hand and pointed at Sappho.

"Every injury you inflicted," he breathed, "I will personally ensure you get it back tenfold."

Sappho chuckled. "Looks like you've grown some balls, little man. What's gotten into you?"

The man grinned and pointed his thumb at himself, and struck a defensive pose that would have made any opponent quake with fear. "I am the dark warrior reborn," he announced and summoned the Bolt Blade. "Enslaved, I restore justice to those with none! PKM Agent 0: Golden Ranger!" From behind him, a piece of ceiling caved in, sending an explosion of dust and mortar in a powerful cloud. He chuckled, the explosion almost seemed choreographed to his pose.

"That's much more heroic than hers," sniggered Sappho.

"Pi, activate the Synchronization Drive and be ready on my mark."

The AI agreed. "Roger that and charging, 0." The Golden Ranger took a running start and, with a sweep of the giant sword, batted Sappho right into the nearby wall. Not willing to allow the Dark Sapphire Ranger even a moment's respite, the dark warrior tore through the battlefield with Agility, pushing and pushing the Synchronization Drive to its absolute limit. Blinding speed made Sappho completely useless in the face of an empowered Golden Ranger, and he cursed with pain when he was struck again and again by the Bolt Blade's sharp edge.

"Come on, Sappho," growled the dark warrior, and bashed the Dark Gem Ranger across the face with the blade. "Pi, download Lightning Laser!" The sword vanished, replaced with a shotgun that the Golden Ranger did not hesitate to use immediately. Electricity coursed through Sappho's uniform again and again, forcing the man back into the water. The azure fighter sank like a stone.

The dark warrior fired ten times into the water, igniting the searing pool like a Christmas tree. No human would survive it, but there was no doubt in the Golden Ranger's mind that Sappho would. He kept firing, holding Sappho off until the Volt Tackle could be utilized again. He was still aching from using it once, and his joints were becoming unresponsive under extreme pain and duress.

"Pi, uniform analysis," he ordered, to check his stats.

"Reports confirm that over half of Ranger Form's stats are gone," answered the little mouse. "At this rate, we won't have enough energy to fight a street thug, let alone a Dark Gem Ranger. Advice is to power down and retreat."

"Wait…Ranger Form?" 0 had never heard that before, was the Pikachu talking about the uniform?

"Activation of the Synchronization Drive has resulted in a reclassification of the PKM Ranger uniform as Ranger Form," explained the electric Pokemon. "Unless an alternate power source is activated, we will lose. Damage to your shoulder, and blood flow has limited communication between circuits and systems on almost forty percent of the suit."

"An alternate power source?" This made no sense to the Golden Ranger, who nonetheless continued firing at the Dark Sapphire Ranger to maintain the paralysis. "Where are we going to find one of those?"

"_Synchronization Drive charged_," answered a mechanical voice, one which sounded nothing like the friendly voice of his ranger spirit. "_Under Protocol A-0, usage of standard Synchronization Drive will result in power down of all Ranger Form systems. Powering down Synchronization Drive._"

"Hey, wait!" shouted 0. "Return control of the Synchronization Drive to Pi!" What was that? It had sounded like a machine, perhaps something left behind with the Synchronization Drive in the morpher from its previous user.

"_Activating Auxiliary Pokemon System_."

The visor's display burst in a flash of brilliant light, replacing all of the stats and monitors with a brand new menu, one with six slots in a hexagon shape. Currently, only one of the slots was available, colored blue. "What is this thing?" the dark warrior asked. Then, something materialized on the small of his back, right on his belt. He unhooked it, and saw a pure blue Pokeball in his hand. "A…Pokeball? What's this thing for?"

"_Rio, Riolu_!" shouted a voice by his side. The Golden Ranger looked down and Lu was indeed standing beside its trainer, ready to fight. 0 opened the blue Pokeball, and the dog Pokemon vanished with an azure flash into the ball, shrinking it down to miniature size. 0 stared at his right hand in amazement as his morpher began augmenting itself into a new shape, forming a circular slot that fit the Pokeball perfectly.

"Pi, what is this thing?"

The mouse answered. "I'm receiving new encrypted data, 0. It's called the Auxiliary Pokemon System, and is designed to increase our strength with additional Pokemon support. It'll allow us a boost in power until we can figure out how to hold off the Dark Sapphire Ranger. Insert Lu's Pokeball into the morpher!"

Meanwhile, Sappho was rising up from the water, taking advantage of 0's distractions. "That wasn't very nice, Golden Boy," whispered the man.

"Pi, what made the Auxiliary Pokemon System?" asked the Golden Ranger.

"Origins unknown or classified. I don't know."

The old man was laughing at him in hell, thought the dark warrior, as he lifted Lu's new Pokeball towards the morpher. It fit in just like a notch on his belt and began charging. 0 noticed that his monitor began flashing blue everywhere. "_Auxiliary Pokemon System online_," said the AI that was not the Pikachu. "_Rio Form_."

0 felt a sudden surge of power as the transformation began. A bright aura in the shape of a blue circle surrounded him, floating upwards and covering the Ranger Form in a blue energy. The Bolt Blade vanished, returned to storage, in preparation for the new fighting form. The Golden Ranger looked at the bottom of his screen, and noticed a new AI was being installed in the shape of a Riolu avatar. _Ah, I get it. Pi helps me in the Ranger Form, while Lu takes over in this new thing_.

The armor on his forearms expanded, then exploded into giant claws in the shape of a Riolu's paws, only mechanized and with five digits. The claws extended into sharp dark blades, and the Golden Ranger clenched the new gloves with anticipation. To connect the new weapons to the uniform, veins like sapphire rivers flowed up his arms into his shoulders and finally stopping at the helmet. The upside-down triangle pattern that was 0's visible visor transformed as well, the bottom half transforming a bright blue to match the new weapon.

"_Arm Boosters installed_," said the AI. "_Download complete_."

Suddenly, something invaded the dark warrior's head, penetrating his memories and personality. He doubled over, clutching his head like he had the worst migraine ever experienced by a human being. It pounded in his brain, altering the chemicals and emotions running rampart through it.

Finally, he lifted his head and grinned underneath his mask. "Ready, Sapphy?" he asked, with a giddy, scrappy voice that he barely registered as his own. He felt like playing! He felt exhilarated and happy that he was going to get to fight, and win, against a tough fighter. He happily punched the Arm Boosters together, creating a clunking noise like a starting bell in a boxing match. "Here I come!"

He burst out against Sappho with a running start. Not the speedy burst of Agility but the playful romp of a baby Riolu. The Dark Sapphire Ranger seemed perplexed by this turn of events, especially when he swung his scimitar down to deal a death blow to the throat. But the Golden Ranger dodged, it was too early for the fight to end! He tackled his foe and ran smack into the nearest wall, using the Dark Sapphire Ranger to cushion his body. Sappho groaned with distain at the fact that he had been used as a living pillow and retaliated by smashing 0's helmet with both his arms.

Or, at least he tried to. At the last moment, the Golden Ranger backed away, and threw a punch with one of the Arm Boosters that carved a rather nice Sappho-shaped figure into the tile of the wall. "Oops!" said 0, exactly like a child would react to breaking their mother's vase. "Sorry about that!" He laughed.

"What kind of freak show is this?" screeched Sappho, as he dislocated himself from his hole. He swung the scimitar down on 0, with every intent in his mind aimed on defacing the Rio Form's visor. But the empowered Golden Ranger wasn't quite ready for his fun to end and caught the sword like a baseball in one hand. "Let…go…" 0 chose not to listen to his opponent and instead swung him into a pillar, which smashed in two and crumpled around the Dark Sapphire Ranger's damaged body.

Wow, thought 0, as he pounced on his prey. The Rio Form had given his arms incredible strength! "Can't hear you!" said the dark warrior merrily and began to rearrange Sappho's face a bit with said incredibly strengthened arms. Sappho, after much effort, pushed 0 off, but it was getting harder for him to keep up with the cheerful, annoying fighting force 0 had become. "Come on, Sapphy, you're not even trying!"

Rio Form was highly enjoyable, primarily because of the backup AI that Lu had become for 0. "Hey, Lu?" asked the Golden Ranger, wondering if he could communicate with the secondary Pokemon.

"Aye, sir?" answered Lu eagerly. It had a very young voice, like a little boy's.

"How much strength are we using right now?"

"Half!"

"Let's fight at full power. How about it?"

"Okay!"

Like weights lifting off of his body, 0 exploded with a brand-new surge of power. The raw energy burst forward, and 0 smashed into the Dark Sapphire Ranger's helmet with his left Arm Booster. "Lu, activate the Synchronization Drive!" 0 announced, figuring that he now had plenty of energy to use it. "Use Volt Tackle!"

"Sorry," said an apologetic Lu. "When you're in my form, you can't use that!"

"What?" exclaimed 0 and wrestled Sappho back underneath him. "Well, what can I use?"

"Rio Form uses Endure and Aura Sphere instead of Agility and Volt Tackle."

"Then let's try the second one," decided 0. "Synchronization Drive: Aura Sphere!" He jammed both of his Arm Boosters into Sappho's face just as they began powering up like turbines. "Go!"

"Nooooooooo!" moaned the Dark Sapphire Ranger, before he received a full burst of Aura Sphere directly in the face. The force was so intense it forced 0 into the air, whereupon he landed gracefully about twelve feet away from his target on all fours. Sappho, on the other hand, was driven into the ground hard and stayed down, breathing ragged, deathly breaths as he struggled for air.

"Get out of here," ordered 0. Why he did not know, but he was certain of the fact that he had no time to kill Sappho right now. "And remember, I let you live. Never forget that." He then turned away from the fight and went to Serena's body. "I have to go take care of her now. Tend to your wounds before we fight again, I hate beating people that are weaker than me." He picked up Serena again and cradled her in the gigantic, protective Arm Boosters.

"Get…back here, you freak!" shrieked Sappho, as he dragged himself towards them. "Get away from her and fight me! FIGHT ME!" But his pleas fell on deaf ears. The Golden Ranger left, leaving Sappho alone in the ruined building.

Sappho lowered his head and the light went off.

0 had won.


	14. Morph 14

A slight warning before we proceed- this chapter might be a bit borderline **M**-ish due to some violent imagery (though nothing I haven't seen in a PG-13 movie or TV-14 program). Just thought I would be safe instead of sorry and give everyone a head's up.

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**Morph Fourteen: That Which Binds Together**

The police, as one, trained their weapons on the figure that emerged from the _Petal's_ entryway. The Golden Ranger looked completely unconcerned with the standoff, as if it was nothing more than a momentary hindrance between him and freedom. That is until he looked around and noticed that no one was lowering their weapon. The leader of the standoff, a young lady with blue hair, stood up with a microphone to talk him down, because apparently there had been some confusion as to who was the villain of this story.

"Put the girl down and back away with your hands above your head!" ordered Officer Jenny. "Nothing bad has to happen."

0 considered this. While the demand made sure he wouldn't be turned into a bullet sandwich, it also took precious time away from what little Serena had left to be treated. Then he noticed he was still in Rio Form, which was probably the reason they didn't recognize him. "Lu," he muttered, "power down to Ranger Form." The dog Pokemon complied, and the friendly influence of the Riolu faded away into the dark warrior that was the Golden Ranger. The clunky Arm Boosters faded away into storage for when he summoned Rio Form again, and he no longer had a trace of blue on which, which was probably what confused Jenny.

"I am a member of the PKM Rangers," announced 0, who was in no mood to play nice with the local police. "I am their leader, Agent 0, the Golden Ranger. I have another member of my unit with severe injuries who requires medical treatment. You are in my way and I have no problem moving your team, Jenny, if you don't let us go right now!"

He hoped that using the organization's name would help him get through the blockade with minimal problems. After all PKM was a big, private mercenary group. Almost anyone knew about them and what they did, mostly because of the group's signature ranger unit that made them stand out wherever a ranger was dispatched. He saw Jenny muttering to her colleagues and looked down to inspect Serena.

The White Ranger was severely damaged. Her uniform was only remaining online because the AI knew that powering down now would result in identity exposure. But the blood spots were getting darker as liquid filled the suit and began damaging it. He had maybe minutes before the suit was finally forced to power down and reveal its owner. Both he and Serena were running out of time.

Jenny looked up at him again, then nodded to her subordinates. As one, they formed a gap in the blockade directly in front of him and Serena. He walked through it. "Pi, download the 0 Cycle now," he commanded. "Let's get out of here."

"Downloading," replied the mouse, happy to be the core AI of 0's uniform again. "Complete." As it spoke, the powerful machine appeared. 0 positioned Serena in front of him on the bike so he could control how she was sitting. He couldn't have her falling off at the speeds he was about to use.

A hand fell on his shoulder. The Golden Ranger looked up to Jenny, just before he was about to take off. "Excuse me," she said, with a hint of doubt, "where's the blue ranger that keeps attacking my city? He still in there?"

0 shrugged. "Don't know. I let him go," replied the dark warrior. "He's too damaged to do anything now and I'll be waiting for him. All of the civilians were evacuated too." That was all he was going to give her and she understood that with an astounding amount of common sense, something officers of the law rarely understood from mercenaries. 0 quickly removed Lu's Pokeball from the morpher and attached it to the slot on his belt. He began revving the engine and, moments later, he was gone.

"Pi, put me in touch with 003," the Golden Ranger ordered, as he entered traffic.

"Opening communications," answered Pi, and a second later a little image that 0 assumed was Bakaguru's icon appeared on the bottom of his screen.

"What is going on down there?" demanded the otaku loudly. "I turn on my television and I see a giant fight at some spa! Must I collar you to prevent trouble from happening in your presence?"

"Nice to hear from you too, big guy," the ranger grunted, as he swerved to avoid a truck taking off his head. "I need a medic for 3. Send one over now."

Bakaguru snorted at the impudence. "Boy, do you think I can simply teleport someone to take care of injuries for you? That's not how we do things in PKM. Take her to a hospital, and give her a tin of band aids."

"Have you seen what happened to her?" 0 asked.

"No. Why…is it serious?"

"I'll send over her AI's transmissions of battle damage," he said. "Pi, do it." The Pikachu analyzed the data, condensed it, and uploaded the statistics and damage into Bakaguru's computer system. When the otaku finished looking it over, he groaned.

"Don't take her to a hospital," he grumbled. "If you do that, you'll just alert the media to her identity and make everyone's lives miserable."

"It was your idea!"

"Yes, when it was a good one!" snapped the otaku. "I'll camouflage the 0 Cycle to appear as an ordinary motorcycle when you power down. Just get Serena into the apartment. I will remain in direct contact with your communicator to help, and I'm sending over 415 for additional assistance until I get there."

"How long is it gonna take?" 0 knew that Serena wasn't going to be able to last long.

"An hour, maybe two. I will travel through the emergency portal system we have here to 415's safe house, then make my way to yours. Keep her alive until then." The communicator shut off, presumably because Bakaguru was going to waste no time moving Jessie, James, and Meowth to calibrate the portal.

"Roger," 0 answered. "Pi, power down Ranger Form."

A flash of light issued around both the ranger and his motorcycle and he transformed into his civilian clothes. Serena did as well, but 0 did not look at her. He needed to concentrate on pivoting the disguised 0 Cycle off the highway and into the streets of North Petalburg. He had about three blocks left until he reached the house. "Come on, 3," he muttered to her limp body, "don't you dare die on me."

He parked the 0 Cycle in front of the apartment building and rushed upstairs, knowing that Pi would be able to store the vehicle on its own without his assistance. He cradled Serena carefully, she was too damaged to be moved too quickly. He burst open his door and locked it, before placing Serena down on the floor. Only then did he looked at her.

It was…terrible. 0 had never really thought of his partner as a beauty, but he knew others did. Her seductive smile was gone, replaced with swelling around the cheeks and lips, from where Sappho had smashed her face against her helmet's visor. Her eyes were both black, and there were cuts and scrapes along her neck and ears from the battle. Her hair, normally silver, was matted with blood from head wounds that were hidden under the locks. "Got to dress her wounds," he told himself and began removing her clothes. Her AI had made sure of some modesty, and it was a casual shirt and pants that he tore off to make sure her body received all the circulation it could pump.

Someone started pounding at the door and 0 turned away from the wounds across Serena's body to answer it. It was 415, red-eyed and obviously very tired. "Came as soon as I heard," she murmured, and threw her scarf at 0's face. "What have you done to her?" She rushed past him to examine Serena's body. "This is not good." She withdrew a first aid box from her overcoat and opened it. "Get over here. I will require your assistance."

"Nice to see you too," he retorted with a mumble and followed her orders. He placed Serena's head on his knees to make sure that her airway was kept open, while 415 set about preparing the first aid kit. "Is she going to be alright?"

415 shrugged. "Multiple stab wounds, probably a few broken bones, concussion…not to mention all the damage done from blunt force trauma. I only have the equipment that will keep her stable until Bakaguru gets here. My kit is not even supplied with morphine. All we can do is dress her wounds and keep her from losing any more blood." She glanced over the body, and pulled out a cigarette from her coat. "What type of fight caused this?"

This time, the hologram her face was projecting was that of a very angry woman with short blond hair and green eyes. 0 shrugged, then winced, as he remembered his own wound. "The Dark Gem Rangers got a new recruit: Max Birch. We had to split up to fight both. I…I shouldn't have left her alone with Sappho."

"Correct," 415 muttered, and stuck her cigarette in her mouth. "Your ranger system, despite your inexperience, is far superior to Serena Brine's. 003 informed me you sustained damage in the fight, yes?"

"I…guess so."

She lit the joint and breathed a sigh of happiness as the smoke floated from her lips. "Then logic dictates you should have engaged the sapphire. The White Ranger's system is designed for quick attacks and stealth, not hand-to-hand combat. Yours is designed for heavy-duty combat." She looked down on Serena's battered body. "The specs of the White Ranger uniform are much lower than yours in most fields, save maybe in limberness and speed. The defense and offensive capabilities of the Golden Ranger armor is significantly more advanced than hers." Her cigarette was beginning to stink up the air, so 415 went to open a nearby window.

"Tell me," she said, and stared at him, "do you derive pleasure from being such a failure? Can you do anything right?"

"Stop it," he muttered.

"Will you cry if I continue?" 415 laughed harshly. "She was hopelessly outmatched in this fight and you let her suffer instead of act like a leader-"

"That is enough." 0 glared at her. "Keep this in mind, 415: I am a higher rank than you, which means you will do as I order. Now, you are going to treat Agent 3 and we will keep her alive until Bakaguru can get here. Unless it for a medical reason or emergency, you are to maintain silence and not disturb our attempts to keep the White Ranger alive." He took a breath, and then began to pull out swabs and alcohol. "Got that, you stuck-up bitch?"

415 was stunned, and the cigarette almost dropped from her lips. He had pulled rank on her, the runt shouldn't have done that. "Why you…you-" She clenched her fists and sighed, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Fine." She put out the butt on an open windowsill and flicked it out into the alley before she rejoined 0 at Serena's side. "You already undressed her, naturally-"

"It wasn't like that."

"I know," she replied. "Pour the alcohol on the swabs to disinfect the wounds." They both dabbed the cotton with the liquid and began carefully swabbing away at the wounds to clear them of the blood on the body and any possible infections that might have thought about forming. It took a long time, or at least it felt that way to 0, but the procedure was only about ten minutes from start to finish. Serena's breathing was getting less and less frequent, so they hurried to bandage the wounds. "Don't you have any painkillers here?"

He shook his head. "I've got booze, that's it."

415 grumbled to herself. "That would not be advisable." She sighed, and pulled out a cell phone. "I will see if 003 can expedite his movements. Without his treatment, she will not last long." She headed out of the apartment to make the call, presumably because she didn't want to increase Serena's pain with the vocal abuse she would soon be inflicting on Bakaguru Niwa.

Leaving 0 alone with Serena. The ranger looked down on his partner, the bandages and splints they had had to put on her were so immense it was hard for him to believe he had allowed her to get hurt so badly. "I'm so sorry, 3," he muttered and lowered his brow, touching her forehead with his own. "I never wanted you to get hurt."

"0, you know it wasn't your fault," whispered Pi into his ear. "Serena fought because she was trained to. She's not just another girl, she's a ranger too. She knew the risks of becoming one. She knew what she was getting into."

"I…know that," he muttered. "But it doesn't make me feel any better, Pi. I'm leader. I should know how to work with her by now. I should know how to…be a better ranger." He lifted his head and set hers on his lap. "I want to help her, but I don't know how."

"0, what about the Synchronization Drive?"

"What about it?"

"Remember how in Rio Form you were able to use different attacks from Ranger Form? One of them was Endure. Maybe you can access it again and use it to buy Bakaguru and the others some time before it's too late."

The idea sounded good. "That could work," 0 replied. "I think I can do that, if I focus the Endure onto 3." He lifted Lu's Pokeball, which had changed color from its original red-and-white to a bright blue, from his belt and inserted it into the morpher. "_Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power_," whispered the Golden Ranger. "Rio Form."

In moments, the ranger uniform was online and had the Arm Boosters downloaded. He placed his massive armored hands on both sides of Serena's head, and began powering up the Synchronization Drive. His head, though under the influence of the childish Lu, was still clear enough to do what was necessary. "Ready, Lu?" asked the Golden Ranger.

"Ready, sir," said the still-cheerful baby. "I'll make sure she gets the full blast of it."

"Synchronization Drive: Endure."

His entire body surged with power, which began slowly transferring itself to Serena in the form of a rising glowing aura that covered her body. It didn't heal her, but it would stave off death until Bakaguru could arrive. Finally, the aura did all that it could and died down softly. "We've given all the energy to her. We've done all we can, sir," announced Lu.

"Synchro's been used up?" 0 asked.

"Yes, sir."

He nodded. "Good. Power down and recharge the drive in case we need to do it again." The uniform disappeared in a flashed of light, just as 415 was walking back in, shutting the door behind her. "What's the plan, 415?"

"Bakaguru will arrive presently," she replied. "What were you doing in here?"

"I used my Synchronization Drive on 3," he explained. "The Endure should keep her alive, but just barely, until Bakaguru arrives."

"You did what?" she asked, confused. "What is this Synchronization Drive? No ranger upgrade I know has that name."

"It's not a ranger upgrade," he answered. "It's part of my morpher. We think it was tampered with by my predecessor, that's why the technology doesn't exist in any other morpher. It allows me to combine registered Pokemon to my standard Ranger Form with the Auxiliary Pokemon System. Makes me stronger and lets me use attacks from Pokemon."

415 blinked. "Are you certain?"

"I think that's how it works," explained 0. "When I was fighting, an AI other than Pi explained it to me. And it decrypted files so Pi could fill me in with the rest."

"That is-"

Before the conversation could continue, the door almost exploded off its hinges when Bakaguru began pounding on it. 415 let the fat man in and he rushed into the room without pausing to close the door or catch his breath. "How is she, 0?" he asked hurriedly, pulling out a briefcase filled with what could only be medical equipment.

"Stable, but sinking," he answered. "I've used Endure on her, but that's only going to be a short diversion. She needs your treatments."

Bakaguru nodded and opened the case, retrieving IV needles. "I will have to administer some morphine for this procedure. She needs to sleep through the pain." He injected her with the drug. "Then, I will need to pump her system with serum."

"Wait, serum?" 0 asked. "The thing I use?"

Bakaguru nodded. "I have no choice. Your use of the drug is dependant, but it can be used safely on others in small doses. After I inject the serum, it will heal her injuries with added chemicals like proteins and other things necessary for her wounds to clot and seal." He took out a tube of blue serum and a vial of some sort of purple serum 0 had never seen before. He mixed them together, then attached them to the IV drip.

"This will work, right?" 0 asked.

Bakaguru smiled and nodded. "It was very close, but I believe she will be fine." He rose and nodded to 415, who took his place by Serena's side. "Come, Golden Boy," he said. "415 will watch her for a moment. I need to speak with you. Alone." 0 nodded and rose from his mat to follow the otaku out of the apartment. "Let us discuss this on the roof." 0 led Bakaguru, who was unfamiliar with the building's layout, to the top floor. After several flights of stairs, they exited into the crisp breeze of the outdoors.

"What do you need to talk about?" said 0, as he shut the door behind them. Both he and Bakaguru leaned against the railing and stared off into the city.

Bakaguru took a deep breath. "0, I think it's time we had a talk about your predecessor," he explained. "The time has come we discuss your status as the Golden Ranger. I have taken too long in doing so."

"What is it?" 0 asked.

The engineer sighed. "When we started the Ranger program in PKM, 0, I was barely a recruit. They used to be so flawed and damaged, and they would time out due to maxing out their energy. The average lifespan of a PKM Ranger was two years, from a combination of exhaustion it took operating the system and accidents in the line of duty. Now, the suits are reliable because the Ranger System works perfectly. We stabilized the connections between ranger and ranger spirit, and we even managed to eliminate the time outs."

He turned to 0. "It was the former Golden Ranger who made all of this possible. He was a researcher for R&D with me and the first user of the now-standard Ranger System that all our rangers now use." Bakaguru pointed at the morpher latched to 0's hand. "That morpher was our prototype. It doesn't grant the safeguards and protections the others, like Serena, have. Because of this, it is my belief that the previous Golden Ranger conducted experiments on it to vastly improve the survival of his successor."

0 lifted the morpher and studied it. "You mean…he did it for me?"

The otaku nodded and pushed his glasses back onto his nose. "Correct, Golden Ranger. He left it for you to utilize, why I shall never know. However, I do know, from what I have seen you do with it, that there is something very different about it. Your ability to use other Pokemon and their attacks is something I have never seen before."

The dark warrior sighed. "Man, I could use a beer right about now," he murmured. "What's going to happen to me, Bakaguru? Am I just going to become more and more like a Pokemon because I can fuse with them?"

Bakaguru shrugged. "I think that will be entirely up to you, Gold. From what I have seen, the morpher's…I'm sorry, what is the thing it uses called?"

"The Synchronization Drive?"

"Exactly. The Synchronization Drive has, based on what I have seen on it, an inhibitor to make sure that complete fission does not take place between the Golden Ranger and the Ranger System that powers your suit. I do not think you are fusing with your Pokemon, but are falling under their influence. In the Rio Form I observed, you exhibited many behavior patterns attributed to most baby Riolu. Energetic, powerful, and playful, with the spirit of a warrior. Scans of your suit at the time revealed that Pi, your Ranger Spirit, was supplemented during this time with your new Pokemon, and that Riolu took over the duties of the onboard AI to optimize the effectiveness of the form."

"An auxiliary AI?" Then 0 remembered something. "Before I was able to transform into Rio Form, there was another voice in the Ranger System, one that wasn't Pi or Lu. It shut off my Synchronization Drive and activated the Auxiliary Pokemon System on its own, bypassing Pi's control. It also decrypted several files related to my Ranger System so I could use the APS."

"Hmmm…" Bakaguru scratched his chin. "I don't know about that… The old Golden Ranger did so much to update the Ranger System, many of my modifications are based off of his old designs. It would make sense that he would have experimented on his own flesh and blood. At the end, he wasn't even able to take the ranger suit off because of the alterations. It could be possible he installed something to make sure that we would have a weapon for an unforeseeable enemy like these Dark Gem Rangers."

"So, he made me a weapon by attaching this thing to me," the ranger muttered. "Well that just sucks."

"Considering the amount of power you have, I am a bit surprised you hadn't figured that out," Bakaguru replied, as if speaking to a child. "In any case, I'd advise you to get over it. You're a weapon, yes, but you also know when to be a hero. When it counts." He yawned and consulted his watch. "Don't forget that there are people here who rely on you being that weapon. Like May Birch, and Serena."

"Okay." 0 did not like the situation very much. Being a weapon of the mercenary group was something he was against, but would put up with to defend his friends. "I'm the only one who can operate the system, right?" He grinned and tried to chuckle a bit.

"That reminds me, Gold," murmured Bakaguru, "it has come to my attention that you have allowed a new Dark Gem Ranger to be born, this one emerald instead of sapphire. Is that true?"

0 lowered his head, but nodded. "Max was supposed to be my responsibility. It's my fault the gem bonded to him and forced him to become what he is now."

"You understand what you will have to do with him, correct?" There was no other option for Max, he had become the enemy. "You will capture him, and bring him to us at PKM headquarters. We will run tests to determine how much the Dark Emerald has corrupted his mind, and then decide what to do." He lifted his eyes and adjusted his glasses. "It may come down to exterminating him, Gold. I need you to know that."

"I know," he replied, after a long pause. "Max was a good friend of mine, Bakaguru, before PKM. I hate what's happened to him, but I also know what they'll use him for if we can't save him from himself. Dark Gems corrupt their contractors body and soul. We need to deal with him before that happens. But Niwa, what if we could recruit him?"

"Do what?"

"Max was always a strong kid," the ranger explained, "and if he's bonded to a Dark Gem, what if he can control it? He stopped himself, at the end of our fight. Maybe there's a little bit of Max left to be used for good. If we can return him to normal."

"More research will need to be done on a Dark Gem Ranger before we know anything about them. As far as I could tell, the only difference I noticed was that Max Birch's Dark Emerald form had real chains covering it while the sapphire one's has his as a pattern on his uniform's fabric. That's it." He grabbed 0 by the shoulders and for some reason his ugly face seemed all the more serious. "0, I believe we must prepare for the possibility for an all-out war with the Dark Gem Rangers over May Birch."

"Why do they even want her?" asked the ranger.

"I do not know what they want with her," admitted the scientist. "But, the time will probably come when May Birch will have to enter protection for her own safety. When that time comes, what will you do, Agent 0?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean, _0_," retorted Bakaguru. "If, and when May Birch is brought into protection by PKM, your cover no longer becomes classified to her. You'll be able to tell her who you really are, Gold, and what you've been doing in the past three years. How exciting for you." He stepped away and started for the door. "How long has it even been, Gold, since you told anyone who you really were? It must be quite lonely." He chuckled. "Come on, let's go see Serena, Gold. I'm sure she'll want to spend some time with you."

"What are you talking about?" asked 0, as he followed him. "She's…she's just a friend. That's all."

"Serena and 415 are right," murmured the otaku. "You are a buffoon."

When they returned to the room, 415 was removing the IV drip from Serena's arm and placing it back into Bakaguru's briefcase. 0 closed the door and locked it before he crossed the room with the otaku. "I presume she is alright, 415?" Bakaguru asked, with a hint of authority in his voice.

She nodded. "Aye, sir," she replied. "She will require recuperation for several days, but she will heal with bed rest. Almost all the pain has been removed by the serum's effect." She bowed, and stood back up. "You will be staying at my safe house tonight, Mr. Niwa, to observe the capture of the Dark Emerald Ranger. Please, come this way." She led the otaku engineer out of the house, glared at 0, then left him and Serena alone. Bakaguru gave 0 a big wink before vanishing out the door.

"Hey…" Serena mumbled, and 0 jumped to her side. Her eyes were puffy, but they sparkled when she opened them. She tried to smile, but her mouth hurt too much to do so, so she settled for a happy frown. "Did we win?"

He chuckled, and nodded. "Yeah, we kicked their asses," he answered. "I'm just…so glad you're alright, 3."

"Hey, 0?"

"Yeah?"

"My head kinda hurts…do you think you could put it on your lap?" 0 did so, it was the least he could do for her, after what his incompetence had put her through. "Thanks…it feels nice."

"How you doing?" he asked.

She giggled. "I'll be hanging in here for a while. I'm not leaving anytime soon. 415 said that I was very lucky that you alerted everyone so quickly. I would have died if you hadn't helped me with that little Riolu of yours." She sighed, and her eyes fluttered, like she was trying desperately to keep them open. "Thanks for saving my life."

0 laughed. "That's not something you need to thank me for. Ever," he said to his partner. "You did the same for me way back when. Remember?"

"Somewhat." She raised her arm, and touched his chest. "Those scars…you got them for me. 415 said I wouldn't have any scars thanks to the serum and your thing." She traced the line for one of the lash marks, then her arm got too heavy for her, and it feel against her chest. "She also said you got me naked. Pervert."

0's face turned red. "I…uh…I was trying to make sure that I was doing everything to keep you alive." He noticed that 415 had had the common sense to cover Serena's body with a blanket and had set her on a mat to rest more comfortably.

"I know that," she murmured. "I was just pulling your leg."

"That's mean, Snorlax," he shot back, and they shared a laugh.

It was about an hour before either of them spoke again. Outside, the night became quite beautiful and 0 kept the lights off, wanting his partner to rest as much as possible. Serena fought to keep conscious, certainly, but eventually her body won over, and she drifted off to sleep. 0 would have followed her, but such a thing was impossible. He had said goodbye to the world of dreams long ago with the serum. Instead, he picked up his syringe and refilled it with the clear blue liquid, and injected it into himself, as he was feeling the onset of a withdrawal headache.

"0?" asked Serena, later.

"Yes?"

"What happened in the hot spring? I know I lured you in there, but it's all a haze to me." Her breathing was faint again, she was barely awake.

0 debated whether to tell her the truth or lie. On one hand, she would most likely forget what he told her, no matter what he said, but on the other… He looked down, Serena was still staring at him, waiting for his answer. She had always been there for him, he thought, she had been one of his only friends for all these lonely years. She deserved the truth from him, she deserved honesty from her partner.

"We went into the hot springs," he said. "It was hazy, and we got drugged by Sappho thanks to some pheromones he put in the air. We had sex, 3."

"How sentimental," she murmured. "I wish we hadn't been drugged."

"Me too. I hope it doesn't make things awkward."

"Not really. I want to remember it, though," she answered. Serena shut her eyes. "Still, I hate that Sappho made us do it, and that we didn't decide to on our own." Her face looked pained, as if she were disappointed about something. "I know I play with you about that, but I wish we hadn't been drugged." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Are we going to be okay?"

He nodded. "We are, 3," he said. "Do you need anything else from me before you spiral off into unconsciousness?"

She jerked her head in her best effort to produce a nod. "I'm…kinda scared. Do you think you could sleep with me tonight? Just so I could feel someone warm next to me?"

"I can't sleep, 3," he muttered.

"Then you'll be lookout…just…I need someone near me tonight."

He sighed and agreed. Making sure to do as little as possible to disturb her, the ranger laid himself down on the floor next to her. It was hard, but somewhat comfortable and, besides, he didn't really need anything but something flat underneath him to make sure that he could at least relax a bit while he waited for Serena to sleep. But he was mistaken in thinking he could skip out on Serena's request. Somehow, despite her battered, bruised body, she managed to put her mat's cover over him so they could share, and pressed against him.

He tried desperately to think of anything outside of the fact that her naked body was pressed against his shirt and pants. "Happy to see me?" she asked suspiciously, with a playful tone. "You do know I was beaten to within an inch of my life, right?"

"I'm a guy," was his flimsy defense.

She grinned, or at least attempted to. "Glad to know that," she replied. Her eyes then fluttered shut, and she slept, hopefully in peace. 0 pressed his brow against hers, and made sure she was comfortable before he allowed her to cling to him in her sleep.

"I promise I'll protect you," he whispered. Then he sat back to think.

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Max Birch began to climb.

The chain clasped around his neck elongated, expanding to his arms and helping him scale the building. He left bites in the walls, smashing the stone until finally he was on the roof. He wanted to see the night's sky, a pure, clean slate of stars and the bright moon overhead. He crouched on the roof, for some reason he couldn't quite bring himself to stand upright. That was for humans, not monsters like he was now. The voice in his head told him to stop, and to turn around to face the shadow in the dark.

"Bravo, Maxy-poo," hissed Sappho, as he exited the hazy shroud of shadows he had covered himself in. He pulled out a cigar and took a deep drag, exhaling the smoke in a bright gray ring around his head like a halo. "Not bad for your first day as a Dark Gem Ranger. How'd it feel, having so much power?" He clenched his free fist, relishing in the pain he had caused that day. "It feels good, doesn't it? Like a drug you never wanna quit."

"G-ge-t…aw-ay," stammered Max, his voice wasn't his own yet. The voice, gentle, assuring, calmed him down enough to use the human tongue and not Gallade's voice. "D-don-t…wa-wa-want…y-you. W-wa-ant s-sis-sis-ter." He practically had to cough out the words to get them through.

Sappho approached him, completely unafraid of the untamed monster. "Now, now, now, Max," he tisked and wagged his fingers. "That's not the way to get on my good side. Why don't we start over? I'm the Dark Sapphire Ranger, and I killed your Pokemon!"

Max bared his teeth in a rage-filled snarl, pounding his fists against his bare chest. The chain that surrounded his neck began glowing, eager to protect its contractor. "This won't do at all," murmured Sappho. "I wonder when Axi and Bix are gonna figure out how to keep their new toys under control. I guess I'm gonna have to deal with you the hard way, aren't I?"

Max lunged. Unfortunately, given his weaken state, he was nowhere near the Dark Sapphire Ranger's equal. His drive was parried by the relatively calm man, who then threw Max to the floor and placed the cigar he was smoking right between the new ranger's eyes. "Hey, I said take it easy. Don't make me take out your eye, Maxy-poo." The threat of permanent injury seemed to get Max's attention, as he broke through the insanity that was ruling him long enough to keep still. "That's a good boy. Maybe there's hope for you yet. Axi and Bix were never very good with taking care of newbies, so I've been told to be your tamer." To assert his insanity fully, he stabbed Max quite viciously in the left eye with the burning tip of his cigar.

Max shrieked in agony until the tip, smothered by the liquids in his eyeball, was removed and flicked aside. He clutched his head, rolling from side to side in unbearable pain, until Sappho kicked him hard in the stomach and he gasped for breath. "Oh quit being a baby," the ranger murmured and hauled Max to his feet. "You're fine, boyo."

What? Max felt his eye, he was quite sure it had been scorched away. But it hadn't, it was perfectly fine. In fact, come to think of it, all of his injuries had been healed somehow. Had he always healed this fast? No, he was sure he hadn't…something else must be helping him…

As if in response, the Dark Emerald in his chain pulsated in response, reminding him of their contract. It told him of how his eye had been healed, how his stomach wasn't hurting anymore, and how it would protect him from the big bad rangers. "W-wha-at, wh-at d-do…y-y-ou wan-nt wi-with m-me?" he gasped. "W-want m-my sis-sis-ter."

Sappho almost looked sympathetic. "Really, Maxy? You want your big sister? Well, I can take you to her. Would you like that?"

"Y-you ca-can?"

"Yes, you see, I'm looking for her too!" answered Sappho with a flourish. "I can see your speech is returning. I guess the Dark Emerald's different than my Dark Gem!" He retrieved his own from within his clothes and dangled it on the shiny chain for Max to see. "Your Dark Emerald is weaker than my Dark Sapphire right now, but you'll catch up in no time. You're just Chained."

"Ch-chained?" Max stood up, his mind was jumbled up, too confused to disagree or disregard anything the man said.

"Yes, see we Dark Gem Rangers go through a cycle as we get stronger. You're in the first stage: Chained. That's why you have chains on your arms, like a slave chained up! You're not tapping into all of the power of the Dark Gems! Now, me, I've gotten to the next level, Sealed. My chains are a part of my transformation too, but they don't weigh me down! And, since I got rid of them, I get a sword too."

Max stumbled to his feet, but required assistance from Sappho, who perched him up against a nearby wall. "Why…are you t-telling me…all this?" he asked and looked up into Sappho's cold, dark eyes.

"Isn't it obvious, Max?" asked the Dark Sapphire Ranger, as if it were the most commonly known information in all the land. "I want to help you rescue your sister, and you need to be at full strength to do that."

"Rescue?" Max blurted. He felt sick listening to the word and hurled on the roof's surface. His mouth tasted like vomit. He spit.

"She's being held hostage by some very bad people, Maxy-poo," explained Sappho and his teeth gleamed. "A golden paladin and his snowy princess. They're keeping watch over your sister, we must help her!"

A…golden paladin? Max was sure he had seen someone like that somewhere before, the question was where? Wait… "Was I fighting a golden paladin earlier?" he asked.

Sappho nodded eagerly. "Oh yes indeed, Max," he replied, his voice dripping with malice. "He very nearly killed you to, if it weren't for me! I fought his girl and got him away from you. You were saved because of me!" It was all coming back to Max, the golden paladin had hurt him again and again, nearly killed him, but the soothing voice assured Max that Sappho had rescued him. It had been Sappho. Sappho was his savior.

"Thank you."

Sappho waved it away. "You can thank me by helping me, Max. You see, the rangers in that filthy, disgusting PKM want something very badly from your sister. Something we want too, to harness to help protect people from PKM and anything like them!"

"What is it?" Max wondered.

Sappho smirked. "The crème de la crème of power, Max, resides with her. You see, there's another kind of Dark Gem out there in the world. One that takes on the shape of a certain metal. There are all kinds of gems and precious stones that Dark Gems are made of, but only one kind transforms into a metal when it is created. And it's one of the rarest out there, even more rarer than anything any of us Dark Gem Rangers have. We want it to take down all of PKM's rangers and bring peace to all of the regions of the world! And we need this Dark Metal from your sister. We need to get it away from PKM, they already have a piece!"

Max, feeling better, stood up unsupported and walked towards the maniacal Dark Sapphire Ranger. "What kind of metal are we talking about here? My sis has tons of jewelry, but I don't think any of it is special."

Sappho turned to his new partner and grinned the largest grin he had ever grinned. "Why, Maxy-poo, it is a little, elusive little substance known as Dark Gold. And I think it's a piece of jewelry very close to your sister's heart."

He looked up at the moon and howled his gleeful heart out.

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"Hey, brother?"

"Yeah?"

"When's little sister coming back?"

The two, Axi and Bix, walked together in the street. At this hour, almost nobody was visible, everyone had gone home to their families or, in the case of some of the loners, their computers. "Soon, little brother," Axi said and patted his brother's head. "Very soon indeed. All we have to do is push a little more, and we'll have everything we need to make our family complete."

"And what about Golden Boy?" asked Bix, his voice a bit tense. Axi understood, the paladin had gotten so much stronger. Maybe one day the monster would even surpass them, even if they had the upper hand for now. "What if he learns about the Dark Gold? What if he uses it against us?" Axi sighed, what was he to do with his little brother? He pinched his brother's cheeks and smiled.

"Too dense!" he said with a grin. "You remember how he was back then. Big slobbering idiot, tripping all over his celebrity status. When they stripped that away, all that was left was a cushy little kid with nothing left in the world. Took his wife, took his kid, took everything away from him."

"He still has sister."

Axi nodded. "Yes," he agreed. "He does. But not for long. Soon, she'll be all ours, and that little club she belongs to will be no more. All she'll have is us, and our future will be ever so bright. Right, brother?" Bix gleamed with pride, their plan to destroy PKM was foolproof and even came with the bonus of returning their long-lost sister to them. "Now, how's Sap doing with the new toy?"

"He says that he'll have the thing house-trained before too long," cackled Bix. "Two of us are more than enough to stop the paladin. I'd hate to bring in anyone else." They were few, and they had to pour their resources into so many other projects.

"We'll be planting our newest member soon, right?" inquired Axi, his voice a bit impatient. "All of this effort for one little ring…I wonder if we've gone completely insane, little brother." He hissed and his eyes looked around. He wanted to be sure he wasn't being overheard.

"Oh…we're already there, brother." They shared a laugh, then stopped on a street corner. The winters were always so beautiful in Johto, they had traveled there for the week to indulge themselves in the local population. The newspapers were flooded with reports of a serial killer who had been making himself quite busy, but the brothers knew who the murderer really was. Axi looked up and noticed a girl was walking in their direction. "What do you think?"

Bix looked her over, a platinum blonde with a plump belly, and licked his lips. "Not pure silver, but pretty close," he murmured. He was already excited. "Just wish she was slimmer." They walked up to the girl, she couldn't have been more than sixteen from what they could tell from the schoolgirl outfit she had on. "Like sister."

"Close enough," agreed Axi, and stopped in front of the girl. She smiled politely at the two brothers.

"Hello," she said cheerfully. "Were you looking for something? You seem lost."

Axi snickered. "Yeah… We're looking for the local butcher's market. We've got a hankering for some…red meat." Bix giggled at the joke, but the girl seemed indifferent.

"I don't think we have a meat market on this street," said the girl, after some thought. "I think there's a good one in the west district. The trains could take you there tomorrow, since they're closed now."

Axi shook his head. "That simply won't do," he murmured, then his eyes gleamed as he lifted them to stare at the schoolgirl. "I guess you'll have to do, then." He brought up his hand, and smacked the girl's neck, right in the jugular vein. She went down, and Bix went to work dragging the girl's body in the direction of the nearest alley. She struggled, she had only been stunned, but they liked their victims like that. Screaming and pleading for them to stop, to leave them alone. He brought up a long knife and turned to Bix.

"Bye-bye, sister," he hissed, like a snake about to devour a captured mouse.

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Tonight, Sarah slept with May.

Her mind was full of questions, most of which her mother couldn't answer, even if she wanted to. The daughter wanted to see Uncle Max, he hadn't come back home with them. Her mom had said she didn't know when Uncle Max would be coming home; he had work he was doing, she said, and had left it at that. But Sarah was intuitive, and the little girl knew when her mother wasn't telling her the whole story. May was a terrible liar, she wasn't able to keep a straight face, her lips quivered, and she hadn't looked Sarah in the eyes.

The daughter felt her mother's warm, comforting body, but also felt something metallic that was in May's left hand. Curious, because she wasn't sure what it was, the little girl moved herself so she could lift the arm. Her mother was asleep by now, she wouldn't wake up, thought Sarah, as she lifted the hand.

Inside the hand, dangling on her index finger, was a small loop of gold. Sarah's eyes bulged with wonder, it was like a wedding ring from the television! She giggled, was her mother going to get married? Thinking no harm could come of it, she took it from her momma. It was so shiny, even in the darkness of the bedroom. The shiny gold surface…the diamond in the center carved into the shape of a small Contest ribbon, it was perfect. Who had given something like this to her mother?

Wondering such things, Sarah naturally looked at the inside of the ring for an inscription, which she found etched just below the ribbon diamond. _A&M- Forever.._. To the little girl, the possible romance was too exciting for words, and she almost squealed with delight, but stopped just short of a slight gasp because she didn't want to wake her mom.

Then, something strange happened. The ring began glowing slightly, and suddenly _she was surrounded by darkness. And she was smaller, a lot smaller…like a baby._

_ She was being cradled by a dark figure, someone with a sharp face and hair as black as hers. But she didn't scream, no…something about this person was familiar. He was strong, but gentle. Powerful, but kind. It was…almost like Mr. Toby was holding her, but that was impossible. She had never seen Mr. Toby before the Saffron Contest, she hadn't known his name until after he had beaten her mommy. But it was! Or, almost, anyway. In this dream, Keean Toby was much younger, his face wasn't quite so hard, and his body wasn't so big. He was slimmer, his skin was lighter, not the bronzed form the Orre sun had given it. His lips were in a smile, and his arm was entwined with someone who looked like a much younger version of her mother._

_ "She's got my eyes," said the man who looked like Mr. Toby, not in his gruff, occasionally strange, Orre dialect, but in a smooth Kanto accent. Sarah didn't understand. Why was he holding her and not her momma? Who was he?_

_ As if to answer, the figure that looked like Mr. Toby looked down and smiled._

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Bakaguru Niwa worked tirelessly on the computer. He had not slept in almost forty hours and, being the generally lazy genius that he was, this did not coincide with his normal work ethic. In fact, thought the otaku, this was probably the hardest he had been forced to work in almost a year, not since the overhaul upgrades to the Ranger Systems had his time been so absorbed in work. So much did he wish he could ignore the vast amount of information in front of him and watch some nice, quality anime, preferably one in which the anatomical features of the female characters defied the laws of physics, decency, and common sense, containing their own gravitational pull that so many an innocent men were drawn to touch, then punished furiously for doing so.

"Are you still awake, sir?" a voice behind him asked. It was 415, who had gone to bed about an hour prior. It was dark, and Bakaguru could see very little other than the glowing haze of his computer screen, so he nodded into the darkness from which her voice originated from. "What are you working on?"

Bakaguru rubbed his brow. His eyes were crying out in desperation for sleep. "I'm sorry, 415," he replied, "but the information is classified. I need to analyze some data sent to me by Agent 0's Ranger System. After that, maybe, there will be time for sleep." He then turned his face back to his laptop and resumed his typing.

"Yes, sir," she murmured, then turned to retreat into her bedroom.

"Wait, 415." The apartment, despite 415's cold, calculating, and, occasionally offensive, personality, was quite filthy. Half-finished takeout and dirty dishes littered the kitchen, which Bakaguru, despite his love of food, had boldly chosen to not venture anywhere near. "Sit down for a moment." 415 brushed aside some of the empty boxes on the couch that the otaku was sitting on, and joined him. "We need to discuss something."

"What?" she asked. Her voice sounded so innocent, as if she hadn't the slightest idea of what he could be preparing to lecture her about.

"Your attitude to the Golden Ranger is unacceptable, it must change," he stated. "I am very disappointed in your behavior to not only a commanding officer but also a ranger." He turned to 415, who's face she had chosen to hide in the shadows. "Why do you persist in keeping him down? You realize he will never grow as a leader if he never believes himself to be one."

415 opted not to answer, possibly, thought Bakaguru, because she was feeling ashamed of herself or, more likely, because she felt she had nothing to apologize for. "He is completely incompetent," she explained. "He fails to grasp the concept of teamwork, he fails to understand basic things like strategy and tactics, and for all the praise heaped on him at headquarters, he remains nothing but an unimpressive celebrity." She curled her hands into fists, and lowered her head. "I just…I cannot fathom why someone like him is assigned to be the leader of the rangers after only three years in PKM."

Ah…thought Bakaguru. "How many times has your transfer been denied, 415?"

She counted on her fingers. "One, two, three, four, five times."

"The rangers are a core part of PKM," Bakaguru muttered. "They are responsible for tactical operations, protecting our targets, and keeping civilians alive. They even have to lead PKM personnel into combat Do you think you would be able to do all of that?"

"…Yes," she said hesitantly.

The otaku smiled. "415, do not assume that because you think the Golden Ranger is not the exemplar of perfection that you yourself could be. 0 is young, but so are you. Even with his powers, he is still human. He is still new, he will grow into the hero he is destined to become. And Serena will help him."

415 understood that, but she didn't necessarily accept the ruling. "I just think that it is unfair, the special treatment he is given."

"0 has been through much," Bakaguru murmured. "If you were to ask him, he would probably identify himself as one of the most unhappy men in the world. You do know what we forced him to relinquish, correct?"

"His family, his friends, and his life," 415 answered. She had read up on him before he had been assigned to May Birch's case. "Just like all of us."

"True," the otaku acknowledged. "But, how many of us were drafted? I remember 0's initiation as Agent 1076. It was not something we ordinarily do, having a married man enter the organization. But we were pressured to do it, and then we were pressured to have him join permanently, after he proved himself so capable." He turned to 415 and removed his glasses. "Never forget that 0 is one of the few of us that were forced to give up our lives. You, me, we gave up our lives of our own free will."

He yawned and consulted the clock on his computer, which indicated that he still had several hours to go until sunrise. "Go back to bed, 415. I believe I have done enough work this evening, and some rest will do me good."

She nodded. "Yes, sir," she murmured, and rose from the couch. She walked halfway across the messy room, but abruptly turned around. "Sir?"

"Yes, 415?"

"Why did you tell me that?"

The engineer shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea, 415," he replied cheerfully. "After all, we have only four active PKM Rangers, working in teams of two. There is only so much manpower we have available, I am afraid, since the morphers for the Black and Blue Rangers were retrieved. I must keep a lookout for potential recruits to give recommendations to." He smiled. "Good night, 415."

She seemed happier at that news and turned to leave. Bakaguru Niwa stretched himself out, before closing down his computer and placing it on the ground. His mind was a blur, the possibilities of the Golden Ranger's new power, the safety of Serena, and now the odd desires of 415...he doubted he would be getting any sleep for quite some time.

_ And yet, I cannot help but think of the obsolete morphers… 2 and 4 have been MIA for years. When I examined the morphers, they were too damaged to be safely used, so new ones needed to be made. I wish it didn't take us years to design new morphers…_ Well, there was nothing that could be done about that. PKM had very powerful rangers already, without much need for more. There were only so many super villains in the world, making more rangers seemed to create the likelihood of more appearing. Plus, Bakaguru created each morpher himself, from scratch, and the new calibrations took so much time.

_ I just have to hope 0 and Serena are enough_.

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A scream in the alley awoke everyone.

The sun had barely risen, and many of the people awoken by the screech were quite annoyed by the sound. After all, it was the weekend! The time of rest, or so they thought. But the screaming continued over and over again, as though someone was watching the world's most gruesome horror movie in the dark and had been accidentally spooked. Eventually, a middle aged man, who was rather enjoying a lie-in with his wife, reluctantly shoved himself off the bed and began stumbling in the direction of the window, with the express intent of yelling at whoever was outside for being so rude.

He put on his pants, quite an important thing for yelling at people, and unbolted the window so he could properly express his displeasure. When he opened the window he took a deep breath, and shouted, at the very top of his lungs, "Shut up down there! Do you have any idea what time it is!" This seemed to distract the offending individual in the alley, who stopped shrieking just long enough to look up at the gentleman.

"Help!" shouted the girl, her eyes wide with fear. "Somebody get some help down here!" She tried to continue shrieking, but something impeded her from doing so. Most probably it was the fact that spew burst from her lips when she glanced at the thing she was trying so much to get help for. She coughed.

The middle-aged man, curiosity despite himself, looked down into the alley. It seemed like a perfectly normal, dank alley. Filthy, but that was to be expected. Then, his eyes caught something: a bright spot of red on the ground about the size of a pothole stained the ground. He took a closer look, and noticed what appeared to be a piece of shredded clothing…and lying next to it…

A human hand.

The man almost bumped his head when he jammed himself back into his small apartment. Quickly, he rushed into the other room, grabbing the first pair of shoes and shirt that he could find. His wife, confused, looked up from their bed, slightly dozed. "What is it, honey?" she mumbled and rubbed her eyes.

"Call the police," he said, "I think there's been an accident outside." And, without further explanation he rushed out of his apartment and down the three flights of stairs that led to the entrance of the apartment complex. Within a minute he was in the alley. The girl, too disgusted to even look, pointed in the general direction of the body. Bracing himself, the man looked.

The body was terribly mutilated, the man guessed a knife had been used for most of the cuts and bruises. The body's…skin looked like it had been run through a sliced grater, the cuts and slashes were so extensive that not a square inch of the body wasn't red with the girl's…something told the man the dead person was a girl…body. She wasn't even recognizable as a girl, her shirt had been cut up and her chest carved out with another knife. The man leaned against a nearby dumpster, and the nice dinner his wife had made him the night before came bursting from his mouth from the corpse's stench. The smell of stale blood, the rotting body… It was sickening.

The torn dress…it looked like something a schoolgirl might wear, and a horrible realization dawned on the man that the person who stood dead before him was nothing but a child. Her hair, tattered a dismayed with the red blotches from head wounds, was silver, and had been cut in some areas right down to the scalp. Pieces of her skull could be seen.

The girl who had been screaming…who had called him down here, was standing next to the old man, her eyes showing the extent of her fear. "W-what do we d-do?" she asked in a low voice.

"My wife's calling the police," whispered the man, also in a low voice. "We wait here until then-they'll want to take down our statements."

"Okay," she said.

The police were a long time coming and, when they did, the two looked very pale. The time that had lapsed was enough for them to truly take in the kind of sick, depraved acts that had been committed on the corpse. The bottom half of the corpse…it had been sliced, diced and put on display the sort of sick thing that had happened. The girl couldn't bear to look, and the man would wish forever that he hadn't.

What kind of sick person had done something like this? And to a child?


	15. Morph 15

**Morph Fifteen: Sappho's Perfect Plan**

The voice hummed lightly in the darkness.

The Dark Sapphire Ranger could not see in the dark. Unlike the PKM Rangers, those weak fools, Dark Gem Rangers could not amplify themselves with additional skills like heat vision or x-ray. He had to rely on what he could hear, what he could see with his own ears and his own eyes. The Sapphire Scimitar, his favorite toy, hung casually in his left hand, his fingers gently caressing the hilt. When his feet crunched against the unkempt floor, he heard the sound vibrations travel through the air, displaying to him his surroundings.

He was in a warehouse.

More specifically, he was in an abandoned warehouse. Around him stood empty shelves, dozens and dozens of them. He walked through the rows, his voice humming naught but a merry tune with his breathing. Again his voice echoed, like a child's laughter, and his hand grazed the edge of one of the shelves. Dust lingered on his fingertips and he glanced at it as if it were some kind of new, foreign thing he had never seen before. He wiped his hand on his sword and continued along his merry way.

"Oh, Maxy-poo…" he murmured, almost cooing. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." He twirled the scimitar, a small whirling noise issued so he could get a better sense of where he was. There was no light, it was bad for his new partner's training. Max could see perfectly fine, but he needed to be able to do more than that. Their foes could, after all… "Oh, Maxy-poo, I'm gonna kill ya…"

A sound issued somewhere above him, and he heard a footstep, like someone leaping from shelf to shelf over his head. He stopped, and looked upwards. "Maxy-poo?" he asked the darkness. A growl replied, up and to the left of Sappho's current position. It was savage, that a feral Pokemon might make when approached by a trainer. "Oh, that's not how you get on my good side, Maxy-poo." He giggled and leapt upwards, bouncing off the shelves towards the upper levels where Max was hiding.

Even in the darkness, it was quite easy to tell where the Dark Emerald Ranger was. His body glimmered in the slight, translucent light that came from cracks and chinks in the ceiling and walls from the outside moonlight. The jaded body, the dark helmet that looked like a wreath of darkness… Max snarled, and flexed his arms against the wrought-iron chains that bound him.

Sappho grinned, his little apprentice was getting better and better at controlling himself. In their first combat run, Max had attacked like a ravaging monster, too disorientated to do any damage other than a few shots that were more a result of luck and laziness on the Dark Sapphire Ranger's part than any actual skill from Max. Now, however, he was calm, poised, despite under the control of that vengeful spirit that the Dark Emerald was using to control Max. But now the influence was being used properly, like a guiding hand. Max moved tactfully, not haphazardly, in the direction of his prey, using the guiding voice of his Dark Gem to find his way through the darkness towards Sappho.

But the Dark Sapphire Ranger was quite prepared. He listened carefully, using his own Dark Gem to cheat just a bit, pick up the frequency of the Dark Emerald, just for a peak at his foe's plans. He dodged, just as Max threw a fist towards him and slashed with the scimitar. Max growled and blocked with his arm. The chains and sword gnashed violently with one another, and beneath Sappho's helmet a look of disappointment fell over his face. Max's chains were wound so tightly around his arms that sometimes the shielding felt a bit unfair. The Dark Emerald Ranger growled and dug his fist deep into Sappho's stomach, forcing his mentor back with a slight groan.

"Very good," murmured Sappho, as Max leapt back to a comfortable distance. "I see you're getting better at controlling yourself. Come on, try to down me. If you can, I'll send you off to play with some friends…"

"_Laaaaade_," replied the jade monster. He liked the idea.

Max looked to the gauntlets on his arms and his chains began loosening into long coils beside his body. He glanced up and launched towards the Dark Sapphire Ranger. This time, he would be the winner of the game. He ran forward, across the rows of shelves, leaping over several, and whipped his chains forward as he struck. Sappho brought up his sword, causing the coil to wrap around it, and twisted Max down several shelves. Just before he hit the floor, Max retracted his chain, forcing Sappho to force against the strain of supporting him as he climbed through the air, throwing the second chain out to curl around the Dark Sapphire Ranger's neck. He bounced off the shelf, tugging at Sappho's neck.

The evil ranger lost his balance to the jade monster and tumbled off the shelf he had been standing on. As he passed Max in the air, the monster pounced, slamming down on Sappho to heighten acceleration. Both hit the ground hard, but Max cushioned himself with his mentor's body. Releasing his grip on the sword, Max had his second chain wrap itself along Sappho's neck just like the first, and tightened his grip.

He lifted Sappho's head and leaned in. "_Gallade_," he muttered, claiming victory.

Sappho laughed. "Good work, kiddo," he replied, admitting his loss. "Okay, let me go." Max did not lessen his grip, as though his Dark Emerald was whispering new instructions to him. The faceless wreath of Max's visor left no clues as to what he was thinking. "Very funny, Maxy-poo. Let me go before I hurt you…"

Finally, Max seemed to understand, and retracted his chains before getting off his mentor. He extended his arm and Sappho took it as he regained his composure. "Ready for your first mission?" The Dark Emerald Ranger nodded his head vigorously. The evil ranger laughed and produced two things from his belt: a slip of paper and a syringe.

"You're going to go bring Golden Boy's girlfriend to me," he murmured and Max growled at the mention of the paladin. "This is the address to go to, and the address for the warehouse I want you to bring her to." He gave Max the paper, which was read quickly then disregarded. "Understand?"

"_Gaaaaaal_," replied Max with another nod of his head. Sappho chuckled, his little slave was quite eager. He handed him the syringe.

"Carry that with you." Max did so. "That's for when you find her. Inject her with that and it'll be easier to bring her. Understand?" Max nodded, so Sappho pointed to the door. "Get going then! Giddy up!" The Dark Emerald Ranger roared, then bounded to the door and vanished into the darkness of the night.

Alone, Sappho listened as a small noise issued in the darkness. It was a catchy tune, like that of a ring tone. He put his hand to his belt and retrieved a cell phone from one of the pockets. The caller-ID was unmistakably his employers, so he flipped open the tiny phone.

"Hello?" he asked politely. "Joe's Taxidermy: You Snuff 'Em, we Stuff 'Em. How may I direct your call?"

"Is it done?" whispered the mysterious voice on the other end.

"Your order is being processed as we speak," replied Sappho.

There was a slight cackle. "Good, and the other?"

"We are experiencing a slight delay, I had to send an errand boy out to fetch something for you. But I will be taking care of the main order myself, sir."

"Don't fail us."

"Thank you for choosing Joe's Taxidermy, your one stop shop for all things dead." He closed the phone and put it back into his pocket. He stretched his arms and walked out of the warehouse. He stared up at the moon, and beneath his mask licked his lips.

"I'm coming for you, May Birchy," he whispered, and leapt off into the night.

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The Golden Ranger did not sleep.

He never slept, of course. The serum that he now depended on to live inhibited his body's sleep requirements by altering his metabolism and various portions of his brain, particularly the hormones produced there, into creating a temporary state in which sleep was unnecessary. But continuous usage like his had resulted in a dependence on the drug, without which he would either die or slip into a vegetative state. In his hand was the syringe he used every forty-two hours, its disposable needle in the trash. But the sun was setting, he had let Serena sleep through the whole day in peace.

"Pi, any news yet about the Dark Gems and Max?" he asked and leaned against the wall. But the Pikachu had nothing, neither Bakaguru nor 415 had bothered to make contact the whole day, and he had been left alone lying next to Serena waiting for action. It was agonizing not knowing what was going on out there, where Max was and what he was doing, whether Sappho had gotten to the Gym Leader yet. "Maybe they should have brought in 1 and 5 for this operation. They would have kept everyone alive."

"You don't know that, 0. Besides, the Red and Pink Rangers wouldn't have been the right call for this mission," the mouse answered. "You have history with them, 0. I don't think they would have handled this mission very well."

0 glanced at his partner. Even though most of her physical injuries had gone away, there was still internal damage she was going to have to deal with before she could return to active duty. "At this point," he muttered, "I think even 415 could do a better job. My partner's wrecked, I lost one of the target's family to the opposite organization, and we've got an evil ranger group on the loose looking for May." He took a deep breath to steady his nerves. "I think Bakaguru was right about putting them in Witness Protection. The further they are from this mess, the safer they'll be."

The Pikachu sighed. "Got that one right," it replied. "0, I've been analyzing some of the specs from the Golden Ranger uniform, and I came across some files about the Synchronization Drive. Would you like to view them?"

0 nodded and raised his morpher. "Sure, go ahead," he said. The morpher's base twisted, and a hologram projected itself in the form of a file.

"Data shows that the Synchronization Drive was originally a project headed by the original Golden Ranger, your predecessor. The prototype was designed and built maybe three to five years ago by the Golden Ranger, but the information was destroyed or encrypted before it could be standardized in the other five rangers."

"That makes sense. Bakaguru said that the old guy did experiments on his own morpher when he was a part of the original R&D team that created the morphers."

"It also details plans for a new type of morpher, codename: Ailed. The new morpher was based off of the original designs for the Synchronization Drive, but the original Golden Ranger must have discontinued the idea after discovering the potential for the Auxiliary Pokemon System through Codename Ailed. But there are perfect blueprints of the new morpher located in these files."

The Golden Ranger whistled softly. "That's interesting, might help Bakaguru make those new morphers he's been wanting to finish. How fast would the new design be to make?"

"I don't have specs to compare it to, but I'm pretty sure that Bakaguru could finish new morphers within a month's time," Pi guessed. "A lot better than the rate he's going now." 0 knew the former Golden Ranger had designed all the old morphers, and had taken the secrets of the blueprints with him to the grave. He hadn't even told Bakaguru anything about how the morphers worked, only allowing the barest minimum so the engineer could help the rangers. "Pi, made sure that Bakaguru gets these blueprints for Codename Ailed as soon as possible. If nothing else, he can use them to speed up new enhancements for the other rangers."

"Sending blueprints now," confirmed Pi.

"Hey, Pi?"

"Yes?"

"Where'd you find these?"

"They were stored in classified files until you activated the Auxiliary Pokemon System," explained Pi. "I suppose that the previous Golden Ranger was paranoid about his designs and sealed them away with a special decryption that activated when we used the Synchronization Drive." It began scanning all the available files, but nothing else surfaced. "Codename Ailed was the only blueprint I could find, there's nothing even remotely connected to a blueprint for the APS or Synchronization Drive. I guess 0 didn't want anyone finding out how to use those."

"I guess," the Golden Ranger conceded. "But if 0 had access to the Synchronization Drive and all that, why didn't he ever use it? He could have destroyed the one Rangerling that showed up in Saffron. Easily. Why did he die instead?"

He could practically see Pi shrug. "Got to remember that that Rangerling had a missile it was going to use, that was a lose-lose situation for him. He put the needs of the many over his life. Or maybe he thought his inventions would be better off with someone else."

"What…do you mean?"

"The data is still encrypted, but from what I can tell it was specifically calibrated for a specific chain of events. I think that 0 planned for the Dark Gems, and programmed the Synchronization Drive to activate when enough strain is placed on the user of the Golden Ranger System. A sort of time bomb, if you will. He might have even been planning to use it himself, but…"

"But what?"

Pi pulled up a set of charts, all of which displayed on the morpher's hologram projector. "These are medical charts detailing the Golden Ranger's stamina, mental status, and physical abilities during the periods of time when he was 0. They are all abnormally high for an individual, well above the spectra of-say Serena-in all areas. I think the scenario he designed the Synchronization Drive to activate in wouldn't work for him, since he would have had to take an obscene amount of stress to activate the weapon on his own."

"And Ranger Form isn't on par with a Dark Gem Ranger, is it? No wonder he killed himself, he couldn't use his own weapon. He had to find someone else who could. Someone like me."

"Probably," the Pikachu said. Another set of charts emerged, displaying the medical charts for the current Golden Ranger. "These are your charts, indicating high levels of stress which would quickly activate the Synchronization Drive without difficulties. You were probably selected for this reason to become the second Golden Ranger."

The Golden Ranger glanced outside the window, to the Petalburg Gym. "How's our target tonight?" he asked, changing the subject.

"All's quiet in the Gym," Pi reported. "Nobody's left the building all day, and the target has been by the phone all day. Records show that she's been making calls to the police department. Doesn't she know you can't report kidnapping until forty-eight hours have passed?"

"Her brother's who knows where," 0 muttered and rubbed his brow. "Makes sense she'd be worried. She in bed now?"

"Yes."

"Good. Let's hope she gets some sleep tonight."

He glanced over to Serena, who was starting to stir from her unconsciousness. She blinked a few times, then tilted her neck to look up at her partner. "Hey," she murmured, then coughed. "How's your day been?"

"Unproductive," was his response.

She sighed. "Too bad. I, on the other hand, have been having some very interesting dreams. Most of them about you, and me, and a hot tub, and some-"

"3!" The Golden Ranger disliked learning about explicit scenarios of which he was the co-star. "How are you feeling? Any better from yesterday?"

Serena glanced down. "Why don't you look for yourself," she murmured, and winced slightly when she turned her head. "My neck hurts, I don't think I can look at my own body…" She pulled off her covers, displaying a sight which instantly caused 0 to avert his gaze and face the wall within moments of its unveiling.

"Use a mirror," he suggested.

"Could you please try to be a bit professional?" Serena asked. "I'm in serious pain here…the least you could do is help me so I could get better." 0 hadn't thought of it like that. "So, can you pull off helping me?"

"That depends," replied 0, "can you pull off professional?"

"Good comeback,," retorted the White Ranger. "Seriously. My skin's healed, but there's muscle damage that needs to be checked." After 0 made it clear he would not be inspecting her naked, Serena begrudgingly covered her chest and thighs with pieces of the blanket. "There, happy?"

"Very much so," he said and got to work. The serum that Bakaguru had injected Serena with was a mutated form of the one he was dependant on. As such, the serum was designed to repair and heal the structure of the body, not prolong its function like his. "Your skin indicates no damage. No breaks or tears. Turn over." Serena got on her front and allowed 0 to inspect her back for damage. "It's clean. I'll check your muscles now."

"Mmm…be gentle," she murmured, as she felt his hands wrap around her calves to test their strength, very similar to how a masseur would handle a customer.

"Upper legs have some tearing," he noted, as his hands moved upward. "Do your bones feel bruised when I apply pressure?"

"Not yet."

"That's good." Her upper body, however, had some severe trauma along the ribcage and arms and she winced when he applied pressure on her bones. "Does this hurt?" She nodded. "That's what I thought. There's still bruising in the ribs and tearing in the chest and arms muscles. It's gonna take a bit longer to heal. The serum didn't handle most of the internal damages, so you won't be able to fight…you'll tear your muscles apart from the inside."

She groaned. "Just great," she grumbled. "Is there anything we can do to speed up the process?"

0 thought for a moment. "The serum he gave you is essentially the same compound I use," he said. "Alcohol consumption has been found to extend the lifespan of my serum, it might enhance the effects of yours." He headed for the fridge and retrieved two longnecks. He popped open the bottles. "Can you drink?"

She strained her body and shifted her pillow so she was in a half-sitting position. "My arms hurt," she said. "Can you help me?"

He nodded and tipped the bottle for her. A lightweight, Serena could barely make it past the second sip before she took the bottle out of her mouth and gasped. The Golden Ranger chuckled and drank his own beer. "Come on, 3, take your medicine." Serena gave him a dirty look before allowing him to tip the bottle back into her mouth. "There you go, Snorlax, the whole bottle." When the White Ranger finished the bottle, 0 set it down and enjoyed what remained of his own. "Feel any better?"

Serena smiled. "A little bit, but I don't think it's 'cause I'm healing."

"0."

The Golden Ranger's morpher started glowing, and he put his hand to the com-link in his ear. "What is it, Pi?" he asked.

"We have a problem. My cameras are picking up hostile movement in the Petalburg Gym, confirmed to be the Dark Sapphire Ranger. He's going on the offensive."

"Got it," he muttered. "I'm on my way."

"Gotta go play hero, huh?" Serena asked. Instead of answering, the Golden Ranger went over to the kitchen and opened one of the cabinets, pulling out a gun and two clips of ammo. He slid one into the gun's butt, and handed it to Serena.

"In case the other one comes," he said and put the other clip under her pillow. "If he does, just run. You can't risk fighting right now." He clasped her hands around the gun and she hid it under her blanket.

"Come back to me in one piece," she whispered, as he released her hands.

He grinned. "Stay in one piece," he told her and headed out the door. As he did, he lifted his morpher to his chest and the rough clothes that compiled his normal outfit transformed into the PKM civilian uniform, the goggles falling over his eyes as he shut the door.

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Sarah Birch yawned. She really wanted to go to bed.

But her mommy wasn't ready to yet. Like a mother bird watching over her nest, she had perched over the phone all day, calling the police about Uncle Max. So far, nothing…not even the slightest hint of his whereabouts. When she wasn't calling the station, she had been staring at the news channel, waiting for some sign of the bad blue ranger that had shown up just before Uncle Max had disappeared.

Sarah looked up from the couch, very much in need of sleep. Her mom was on the phone again, her voice was like when Sarah had gotten lost at a Contest, and had left a match to go look for her. She's really worried, thought Sarah sadly. She was worried about her uncle too, of course, but she also knew that Uncle Max was a lot tougher than he looked. He could handle himself.

"Mommy?" asked Sarah and began wandering towards May. "I'm tired…"

Her mother set down the phone and sighed, before offering a smile and picking up her daughter. "I'm sorry, honey," cooed May and patted Sarah's head, "why don't you go upstairs to my room? I'll be up in a little while, I'm just going to make another call."

"Noooooo," Sarah protested. "I want you to tuck me in…"

May sighed. "Okay, sweetie, let's go to bed." Sarah grinned in triumph as her mother got off the chair and led her upstairs to her bedroom. Sarah practically pranced her way into her mother's bedroom, leaping into the giant, fluffy bed the instant her mother opened the door. The bed creaked from the sudden leap and her mother chided her for it. "Don't jump on the bed, baby girl," she said slightly sternly, "I don't want to have to replace the mattress again."

"Okay Mommy," she replied sweetly and dove into the covers. She was already in her pajamas, so she waited while her mother changed into her nightgown. Sarah watched, her mother was really pretty. She wanted to be pretty when she grew up too, and May constantly assured her she would be. "Momma, sleepy."

"Coming, baby girl," she answered and climbed into bed. She wrapped her arms around her daughter. "You okay, Sarah?"

The daughter turned around, her dark eyes smiling. "Uncle Max will come back. And those good guys will keep us safe."

_ CRASH_.

With a sound as ungraceful as it was ill-timed, the entire west end of the Petalburg Gym detonated, sending the building shattered to the ground. Support beams gave way, floors tumbled, and the walls caved in as pieces of the Gym began scattering to the ground in massive pieces. May, acting on instinct, assumed the fetal position and tucked Sarah into her body. The ceiling above them groaned, and the mother decided that it was now time to leave.

"Sarah, let's go!" she screamed and pulled her child out of bed. Sarah, still exhausted, barely made it out of the bed before a support beam crashed down, destroying the bed they had only moments ago been sleeping in. "Come on, we have to get outside!" Norman and Caroline were already dashing down the hallway to them.

"Are you alright?" asked Caroline, concerned.

"Fine, just move!" replied May, and the foursome rushed down the collapsing stairs. Norman, the last one down, crashed to the floor when the boards beneath him gave way and groaned. "Dad, are you okay?"

The old man grinned. "Looks that way," he muttered and hauled himself to his feet. The exit was blocked off by debris, but he led them to an emergency door that took them outside into the cold night air. Behind them, the remainder of the building gave a loud grumble, before it went down completely, a giant cloud of dust scattering through the air.

A loud laugh echoed through the surroundings, one which May and Sarah recognized very well belonging to the evil ranger that pursued them.

"Well, well, well," murmured the Dark Sapphire Ranger, as he emerged from a massive pile of debris carrying a giant support beam. "You're faster than I thought, May. Much faster, anyone else might have accidentally gone splat!" He giggled. "Let's fix that!" He gave a loud shout and swung the support beam at the family like a boomerang.

"_Go_!"

A figure which moved too quickly to be seen leapt over them-only Sarah's eyes were fast enough to track him: a man wearing a dark gold and black suit. He gave an echoing grunt and kicked the beam away using only his momentum and speed. The beam, while it seemed very determined to kill the family, issued a massive _ding _from the blow and hurled away harmlessly, smashing into what remained of a segment of wall, which folded instantly. He landed in front of them and Sarah gasped.

The dark warrior. He looked almost-no, exactly, like the drawing she had done. Like a picture come to life, his dark hair flowed in the wind, let loose and wild from the speed of his attack. His uniform, while black, had dabs of gold all along it, particularly on the shoulders of the jacket, where a 0 was inscribed on both sides. Goggles concealing his identity, he looked behind at the family, and grinned.

It was the Golden Ranger, the paladin who saved them over and over again.

"Everyone okay?" he shouted in an oddly familiar voice.

Sarah cheered. "We're a-okay!" she squealed with excitement.

"Sarah!" snapped May, before looking at the dark warrior. "We're fine! But my father has been injured!"

"What are you babbling about, girl?" the old man demanded. "I'm fine!" But from the way he was standing, the Golden Ranger estimated he had a few minutes left before the bone broke from the pressure of standing. He put his hand to his ear, where a small cell-phone device was located.

"Send emergency signal to 003 and 415," he ordered someone Sarah couldn't see, before turning around to face Sappho, who was beginning to work his way out into the open. Behind the group a small crowd was beginning to gather from something, and roadblocks were being set up by people in police uniforms. "Now I have to deal with you again." He lowered his head and lifted a watch-like device to his face, as if he were about to time himself for something.

_ "Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power!"_

A bright golden light emerged around the ranger and his armor surrounded him. Pieces of a dark helmet appeared and floated above his head, scattered into five pieces, not including the golden triangle that was his faceplate. The remainder of his uniform, decked in black and gold, surrounded him before it clasped itself on him, tightening and binding with wires and metal. First his arms, then his legs, and lastly his chest and back. His moniker, the Pikachu face, formed on his chest and glowed. Finally, the helmet clamped on and the triangle visor turned upside-down and shut over his face.

The transformation complete, the Golden Ranger extended his right hand and a massive sword materialized out of absolutely nowhere, as large as the ranger himself. "Bolt Blade!" he exclaimed and heaved the behemoth weapon into attack position, its tip pointed dangerously at his adversary. But the Dark Sapphire Ranger was ready and the powerful scimitar emerged from his chains, as if a part of him, and he flexed his grip in his left hand quite easily.

"May Birch," said the Golden Ranger, his voice now synthesized with some sort of computer to make it deeper and more powerful. "Get your family to safety. Your survival is my primary concern." He turned to them and his visor glinted in the light of a nearby streetlamp. "I fight best when others aren't in danger." She nodded and drew her family close to her. Sarah wanted to watch, but was dragged away by her mother and grandparents away from the brawl.

Even from the distance she could see. The paladin roared and moved so quickly that Sarah could barely keep up with his moves. Sappho hardly could either, as noticed by his floppy swordsmanship. The Golden Ranger struck like a lightning bolt, swinging his sword like a mighty battleaxe, slashing at the evil ranger and the ground alike as he parried and lunged for the giant sapphire on the dark ranger's chest. Sappho could barely bring himself to dodge and parry, slashing back with every bit the murderous intent he craved. He screamed bitterly whenever struck by the powerful sword and giggled with triumph whenever his toothpick of a sword stabbed through 0's speed and halted the paladin, however briefly.

"He's gonna win," whispered Sarah to her mother, who had joined Sarah near the police lines to watch the brawl, as had apparently the entire police force of Petalburg. Even Officer Jenny, normally such a calm individual, was eagerly awaiting the outcome, her hand so gently placed on her handgun as she watched with bated breath the titanic battle.

"I hope so," May replied. Sarah could practically hear her mother's heart racing as she looked on at the fight. The paladin gleamed in the moonlight as he dove and struck through the air, bursting in and out of his high-speed attacks to slash Sappho. Both mother and daughter could practically feel the cracks of lighting that issued every time 0 vanished in a bolt of speed.

"Download Lightning Laser," ordered the Golden Ranger, and in his free left hand his second weapon materialized. Dual wielding, 0 quickly found himself outclassing the Dark Sapphire Ranger, bursting forward for speedy strikes followed by long-distance blasts with the shotgun. Sappho shrieked and swung his blade down.

0 blocked with his sword, using the massive blade as a shield, before shooting Sappho point-blank with the Lightning Laser. The evil ranger staggered back and 0 pressed his advantage, battering Sappho over the head with his behemoth blade, sending the dark man tumbling to the ground gripping his head in pain.

"That's-that's not nice, Golden Prick," growled Sappho and pushed himself back onto his feet. Again, 0 swatted him down, making absolutely sure that all the fight was forced out of the Dark Sapphire Ranger.

"Think I care in the slightest about your well-being, Sapphy?" retorted the dark warrior. The gun struck the evil ranger's face and sent him flying into a nearby pile of debris. The entire crowd winced from the sheer echo the blow created. The Golden Ranger looked back to Sarah and May, to make certain of their safety, then marched to where Sappho lay, making sure to keep his gun trained on the pile with his sword prepped for combat.

A loud sound, something vaguely like a piece of meat being cleaved, echoed through the battlefield. Sappho, clever and cunning, had his body half-raised, his arm extended like he had thrown something. 0 gasped, then looked down as he fell to his knees. Sticking out of his side was the Sapphire Scimitar, buried almost to the hilt in his flesh. It had passed through the metal and wires of the Golden Ranger's uniform and stuck out the other side of his body.

"Oy…" groaned 0. "This probably isn't good."

Sappho giggled. "Ya think?" He lunged up and drilled the sword in as far as it would go, jamming the sword into 0's ribcage. Another slicing noise issued as the blade started carving upwards along 0's body, heading towards his vital organs. The Golden Ranger grabbed the blade, just before it started on his lungs and grunted from the strain it was inducing. "What's the matter, little golden boy? Having a little trouble with my sword?"

"S-shut u-up, b-bastard," 0 groaned. Little by little the sword was coming out, the Golden Ranger had had to drop his weapons to grab the handle and pry it out. Using one hand he held back Sappho, while the other reached behind his back to pull out a blue Poke Ball. "Auxiliary Pokemon System- Rio Form!"

To Sarah, who had been watching the warrior with horror, the new transformation looked like salvation. Glowing blue lights etched themselves along 0's arms, and extra armor in the shape of a Riolu's paws formed on the forearms and hands, clamping onto his body exactly like the Golden Ranger uniform had. The bottom half of 0's visor turned blue and he tilted his head.

"Time for payback!" he exclaimed and smashed both sides of Sappho's helmet with his fists. The Dark Sapphire Ranger released his grip on the sword, allowing 0 the chance to not only remove it, but drive it into the evil ranger's shoulder. "How's that taste?" Before Sappho could respond, the Golden Ranger leapt up and away, as if he was completely undamaged, and landed near May and Sarah.

"Hey," he said, his breath ragged. "You guys okay?" Blood dripped from his midsection.

"You're wounded!" May exclaimed and pointed to the injury. "You need treatment!"

The Golden Ranger waved off her concern. "Relax, I'll be okay. I've taken damage much worse than this before. Just gotta beat him down until he goes away again." He heard a shriek and sighed. "Guess that's my cue," he grumbled and grabbed his side before leaping right back into combat. The Bolt Blade was in his arms within moments and he tore through the wreckage of the Petalburg Gym searching for Sappho.

"Come out come out wherever you are," called 0, as he stepped over some garbage into a broken room, some of which was still structurally intact. It looked like the kitchen, judging from the pots and pans strewn around the floor. He accidentally stepped on one and the noise echoed through the wreckage. "Lu, where is he?"

"Scans aren't finding anything, sir," reported the Riolu sadly. "Wherever he is, he's playing hide and seek pretty well." 0 switched his vision from standard to heat and the colors changed from the real world to heat signatures. But everything was cold, or charred red on various edges from pieces of fire that flickered from the damage. The Golden Ranger swung his sword through the air, mocking the hiding ranger.

_ STAB_.

0 went down. Instead of his stomach, this time the sword protruded from his wounded shoulder, creating agony unlike anything he had ever experienced. He glanced down, the sword's tip had sliced through the muscle in his shoulder. The Golden Ranger then felt the boot of his adversary on his back as he fell over.

"That's definitely not good," he groaned.

"Ya think?" asked the Dark Sapphire Ranger, sarcasm dripping with every syllable. He dug the sword in, twisting and grinding against the bone and muscle tissue. Somewhere, there was a scream, and 0 became vaguely aware of a weight lifting off his back. He checked his stats, the Rio Form had taken too much damage, and had powered down to Ranger Form. Someone was lifting him up, he looked up and got the shock of his life.

May Birch was trying to help him to his feet. Nearby, Sappho was flat on his face, quite surprised to have been pushed down by a civilian. "Are you okay?" she asked, supporting him on her shoulders. 0 marveled at her strength, he was much heavier than when he was demorphed. He tried to get her away and stood on two shaky legs by himself, forcing his body in between the recovering Dark Emerald Ranger and May.

"Get outta here," he mumbled. His fingers were weak, but he still gripped the handle of his Bolt Blade and transferred it to his other hand, dragging it along the ground as he proceeded forward. "Need to…need to…"

"You!" shouted Sappho, as he leapt to his feet and rushed forward. 0 was powerless to stop him, the Synchronization Drive wasn't working anymore and Pi couldn't warn him in time. He was thrown to the ground like a rag doll, ignored in favor of a much more virile target prospective for Sappho. "How dare you hit me?" The Dark Sapphire Ranger advanced and violently bashed May across the face, sending her flying into the Golden Ranger.

Sarah shouted out in concern, and almost ran towards the fight, but her grandfather stopped her. "No Sarah!" Norman shouted and forced her to stay. "They'll kill you!"

The Golden Ranger grabbed May, checking her vitals. She was okay, even conscious. "Why did you come here?" he asked her and helped her to her feet. "It's dangerous even for me. Now we're both going to die." He looked to Sappho, who seemed quite excited about the prospect of killing the two of them. "You should have stayed with your daughter." He grabbed his sword and started to climb up it to keep standing.

"I'm not the type to let others do my fighting for me," she retorted and withdrew a Poke Ball from her pajamas. "You need another one?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not how it works," he replied. "Pokemon need to be registered to me to be able to work with my Ranger System." The sword dematerialized suddenly, apparently to converse energy with the suit, and he stumbled before regaining his footing. "Just great." He grabbed a nearby two-by-four instead and swung it at Sappho, who dodged it quite easily.

"You're done, Golden Ranger," muttered the Dark Sapphire Ranger. "And your little girlfriend is too. She's being taken care of by my new plaything, Maxy-poo."

0 froze at the news. Serena was too injured to do anything to stop a fight, but May gasped at the sound of Max's name. "What did you do to him?" she shrieked at the evil ranger and rushed him. Sappho, to demonstrate his power, even allowed her to reach him, to hit him, to insult him, before finally sighing and punching May in the jaw. Her head snapped back and she fell to the ground, knocked out.

The Dark Sapphire Ranger, against the protests of his adversary, picked up May quite unceremoniously and slung her over his shoulder, taking special care to feel her up with his gloves as he did so. "Been fun, Golden Boy, but I've got to go now. Call me later, we'll do lunch." He laughed and bounded away from the scene, to who knew where. The police, seeing he had a hostage, gave chase, but 0 knew he would escape and remained where he stood, before his legs finally gave out and he collapsed to the ground.

A few minutes later, he heard the sounds of footsteps echoing through the wreckage, and looked up. Sarah Birch was standing over him, horrified at what had been done to him. 0 groaned and tried to cover his wounds to stop the bleeding, but some of it continued to spill out, damaging the systems in his arm and chest. "Sarah Birch," he muttered, barely breathing, "what are you doing here?"

Sarah, acting as though she didn't hear him, ran up to him and hugged him. "Where's Mommy?" she asked and the Golden Ranger heard the fear in her voice. "First Uncle Max, then Mommy… What do they want?"

The Golden Ranger didn't know the answer to that question. "I don't know," he said and put his arm around the girl. "But I'm going to find out, and bring them back to you." She pulled away and smiled at him, though he could see the tears that were running down her face. "I promise."

"You mean it?" she asked.

He nodded. "I do. Hang on…" He opened communications to Bakaguru and 415. "Agents 003 and 415 respond. Emergency."

"This is 003, we read you," answered the otaku.

"Target kidnapped, possibly Agent 3 kidnapped as well. I have the target's daughter with me right now and the grandparents. It's time for them to go into protective custody."

"Roger, we'll be there soon." The communication ended.

"There we go," said the Golden Ranger. "Now my friends are coming to get you and take you somewhere safe. Go to the police, they're already being told about my friends."

"But what about you?"

He chuckled. "Just let me rest a little while, I'll be fine. Keep the cops away, and make sure you hide until my friends get down here."

"Okay," said the little girl. She turned to leave, but stopped and faced him. "Mr. Toby, bring my Mommy back."

0 laughed and some blood spattered on the inside of his monitor. "How'd you guess, Sarah?" he asked. There was no longer any fear of keeping his cover a secret, not with Bakaguru and 415 on their way for the family.

"You looked like Lu when you were fighting," she said. Then she left.

0 looked up into the dark sky and sighed. "Of course," he muttered and lowered his head to let Pi revive the Ranger System.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

She was quite beautiful, thought the Dark Emerald Ranger, as he crept down the wall. His chains, shackled to the mortar of the building, helping his scale down to the exact address that the Dark Sapphire Ranger had given him. He growled when he reached the correct window and peered inside.

She was lying down on the floor, resting comfortably upon a small bed-like mat in the middle of the apartment. The quiet, stillness of her breathing excited the voice in the back of his head, as did the soft, silver hair that trailed over the floor next to her pillow and across her face. The dark ranger decided to be quiet, or so the voice in his head lead him to believe. Be quiet, it said, as even in the state she had been beaten into the PKM White Ranger was not someone to be trifled with. He was still a young Dark Gem Ranger, not powerful enough to fight all-out.

He reached for the window with one of his gauntlets and found that it opened quite easily to his touch. Perhaps the paladin had forgotten to lock it, thought the Dark Emerald Ranger through his emerald, and inched it open quietly. Once the space was wide enough for him to crawl through, the ranger squeezed into the apartment and shut it behind him.

His visor did not make him immune to the smells and sights of the world. It was dimly lit in the apartment, he didn't dare turn the lights on. His nose took in the scent of stale booze, probably what the paladin drank… He began walking through the small apartment, his chains clinking only ever so slightly as he stepped nimbly on his tiptoes towards his prey. He reached into his belt and pulled out the syringe that his partner had given him. It was filled with such a nasty little sleeping potion, after all he didn't want Miss Brine to struggle on the way back to their lair. She wasn't to be hurt, those were the Dark Sapphire Ranger's orders, and he didn't dare defy him.

Inject her, whispered the voice. _Inject her and let's go. Your tamer is waiting_. Not wishing to disappoint the voice that was his master, Max bent over Serena's soft, cool body and placed the syringe's needle by her neck. He had to hit the jugular, failure meant that his mission would be very difficult indeed. He lowered the needle and, just as easy as winking, jabbed the tip into her skin.

_ Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Searing pain invaded the Dark Emerald Ranger's chest and he staggered away from Serena's body. Six bullets had somehow found their way into his body, penetrating his shoulder, liver, and stomach through the rough fabric his uniform was made of. Most of the bullets had ripped completely through his body, and the caps were trickling down to the ground against the wall behind him. He gasped, there were holes in both his lungs…

Serena looked up and showed him the gun she had been carefully concealing. "Think I'm just gonna sit here and let you kill me?" she asked with a coy look. "I don't think so." She lowered her weapon, training it on the Dark Emerald Ranger's heart. "0 might think you can be trained, but I beg to differ." She checked her clip, it still had two shots left, so she grabbed a second clip and held it close on standby.

Max felt dizzy, two of the bullet were still lodged inside him, one in his left lung and one that had pierced his liver. "_Laaaaaaaade_," growled the Dark Emerald Ranger and coughed, blood dripping into the inside of his helmet. The voice inside his head told him not to worry, all would be well. Max's muscles strained in his chest and abdomen, pushing the bullets out by force. The Dark Emerald flashed and two chinks issued as both caps fell from his body to the ground and his wounds sealed up.

Serena groaned. "That's not good," she whispered. The monster began advancing, slowly stepping forward to her, reaching out with his hands. Serena fired off the final two bullets, smashing into the evil ranger's heart with both shots. Max faltered, just long enough for the White Ranger to reload her weapon. "Get away!" All eight shots went off, bursting through his body and forcing the monster down. His body ripped through by multitudes of bullets, the Dark Emerald Ranger went down, gasping for breath, as his lungs had collapsed and his heart was pumping lead through his body.

Serena rose from her bed, ignoring the pain running rampart through her body and backed away from the twitching body. "Open communications with 0," she ordered, raising her morpher to her lips. "0, you there?"

The communicator was scrappy, primarily because 0 was engaged in the heat of combat, and his suit's AI was busy maintaining damage control. "3, kinda busy right now," muttered 0, and the static in the background conveyed that he was smashed across the face and sent hurling to the ground. "What?"

"The green one's here," she explained. "What do I do?"

0's voice stopped. "…You unload the gun?"

"Yes. He's still coming. His Dark Gem seems to come with a healing factor."

"I can't…" The voice was static, with glitches. "You have-away from him-now. He won't-until you're-dead. Move!" The transmission cut off, after a resounding grunt issued from the Golden Ranger as a result of an injury. Serena winced, 0 sounded like he was in a tremendous amount of pain. She gathered the sheets that 0 had left around her body and ran into the other room just long enough to don a shirt, some pants, and a pair of sandals before bolting out of the door.

The Dark Emerald Ranger panted and groaned, waiting for the Dark Emerald to heal his body of the damage it had sustained. His wounds slowly filled up, nowhere near as quickly as he wanted them to. The bullets dripped out of his body one by one and the holes in his chest sealed up again, mending the fabric and his skin into perfect shape. Even the blood he had lost returned to him and the fuzzy haze that was his vision cleared. He took a breath and let out a low growl as he stood up, hunched over from rage, and proceeded to follow his prey.

He tore through what remained of the door, smashing through a piece of the wall in the process. Bodies surrounded him, concerned neighbors who obviously had no idea what was going on. It made Max's job simpler, as they would make a trail that could lead him to Serena. He plowed through them, without any concern for public safety or the body count that might incur from his exploits. He smashed through the crowd, following the breadcrumbs that would lead him to his prey. He rushed down the stairs, following the breathing he could hear from Serena, and before too long he was right behind her.

She turned around once, just to make sure the clinking of chains she was hearing belonged to the Dark Emerald Ranger, before doubling her speed. Yet, even the added burst of distance did little to impede Max, who grabbed her and threw her to the ground. Serena spun and drew out her gun again. The gun clicked, out of ammo, as the Dark Emerald Ranger growled then jabbed the needle into her vein and injected her with the serum. Once the syringe was empty, Serena's eyes fluttered, then clamped shut as she drifted into unconsciousness. The Dark Emerald Ranger glanced over her, making sure she was asleep. When the voice in his head assured him she was, Max lifted Serena up, and hauled her over his shoulder.

There were others in the corridor, children awing at the dark ranger in the corner, women cowering in fear, men with baseball bats waiting for him to lower his guard even for a moment. He snarled at them, scaring them into backing off, terrified of him. He began walking away, out in the direction of the exit door. He smashed through the door, only to find an entire squad of police standing outside the apartment complex waiting for him. One, presumably the leader, stood up from the rest and raised a megaphone to her lips.

"This is the Petalburg City Police!" announced Officer Jenny, her azure hair fluttering in the wind. "Put the girl down and place your hands in the air! You are under arrest!" The voice inside Max's head didn't like the sound of the megaphone, it sounded so annoying and irritating. It didn't want Max in jail, the Dark Emerald had plans that couldn't be accomplished with that. The evil ranger looked upwards, scanning the surrounding buildings. The chains on his arms began elongating, clinking to the ground.

"_Gallade_," hissed the dark ranger, before he threw his free arm out. The chain connected to it flew up into the air, latching onto the topmost ledge of the building across the street. "_Lade, Gallade_!" Before Officer Jenny and the other police could draw their guns, the Dark Emerald Ranger retracted his chain, sending his body spiraling up into the air. Making sure his grip on Serena was secured by binding her with some of the other chains, he used his other arm's bindings to latch to another building and swing through the street, never lower than twenty feet from the ground.

Bullets whizzed through the air, they all missed. The Dark Emerald knew they would. The chances of bullets fired from standard issue guns police used hitting someone wearing the Dark Emerald uniform, which was so difficult to spot in the dark, were barely nil. The Dark Gem began whispering to him again, telling him to get away from the light, the light that could be used to trace him… He had to get back to his tamer, then he could be caught. Then he needed to be caught.

After some time he stopped wondering about the lights, he had managed to escape them, and arrived in the warehouse district where his tamer was waiting for him. He dropped to the ground, right in front of a warehouse numbered 435, and the chains retracted into his gauntlets as he walked forward and opened the door.

"Good work, Maxy-poo," murmured Sappho's hideous, giddy voice. "She give you any trouble." In his grunting, angry voice, Max explained his annoyance at the police and the lengthened capture of Serena, along with the bullets he had had to force out of his body. "Well, that can't be all bad. After all, you got the job done." He exited from the shadows and Max dragged himself towards his tamer, bearing his still-breathing cargo. Serena groaned in his arms, so he shook her to make sure she stayed quiet.

Sappho led him up a flight of stairs to another room, one with apparently a better ambiance for whatever it was that the Dark Sapphire Ranger was planning. A rack of chains sat waiting for Serena Brine, which Max helped his tamer chain her up to, placing both her arms in the shackles and raising her up so she was suspended in midair, her head flopping up and down as she swayed.

"Good," said Sappho, his visor glistening. "Very good, our second guest is in place." Max looked next to Serena, where another woman was swaying, clasped in midair just like Serena. Her brown hair, the simple innocence of her face… There was no doubt, it was his sister. May looked hurt…her eyes were black, her clothes were shredded, and a small pool of blood sat beneath her, counting the bruises on her body.

Max suddenly-something filled his mind with rage at the sight. He hated how his sister looked. The chains around his body shattered and he transformed back into his human form, breathing heavily from the effects of the transformation. "W-what have you done to her?" he gasped, and glared at the Dark Sapphire Ranger with a face most malicious.

"I?" inquired Sappho with a curious tone. "No, Maxy-poo, it was not I who hurt your beloved sister. It was Golden Boy, the evil paladin, who did this to her. He broke your sister, broke her into a million pieces. Every bruise made him giggle, every bone shattered with a cheery smile. He loved it, Maxy-poo, loved it to death."

With each word, the Gym Leader's fist tightened with rage. His breathing accelerated, his heart rate rose. The Dark Emerald against his chest roared for the Golden Ranger's blood. "You brought her here to help her," he murmured. Yes, the Dark Gem on his chest murmured. That made perfect sense. "So, where's the prey?" Sappho smiled at that.

The Dark Sapphire Ranger seemed to glitter in the hazy light of the warehouse room. "I was hoping you'd ask that, little one," he whispered, and patted Max on the shoulder. "You remember the Petalburg Gym, where Ms. Birch lives, right?"

"Yeah…I am-or I was-the Gym Leader there," Max replied.

The evil ranger sighed with concern. "You see, Maxy-poo, I left our little paladin there and he's still waiting for you to finish the job. I didn't want to kill him, I thought it would be so much more poetically just if it was you who finished him off!" He cackled and the Dark Emerald Ranger grinned at the thought of settling his score with 0.

"I think I can do that," Max said and felt his Dark Gem burn against his skin, wishing to be used. "I can kill him?"

Sappho nodded quite eagerly. "Do what you wish with him," he murmured. "I just want you to have fun with your new abilities, Maxy-poo, and there's nothing better than beating up someone who you hate!" He threw his head back and cackled. His slave joined in with a merry giggle. The Dark Emerald Ranger clasped his hands together in glee, then left the warehouse, wrapping his chain up his right arm, across his shoulders, and down his left almost as casually as if he were slipping on a sweater. His eyes brimming with malice, he practically felt the emerald aura that surrounded him as he pressed the Dark Emerald into his flesh and his voice echoed through the abandoned warehouse district.

_ "Dark Gem Ignite!"_

The transformation enveloped him in azure fire before the armor clasped onto his body, sliding over his chest, legs, and arms before clamping down over his head and covering his face. When the chains were secure, Max leapt up, swinging along his chain to return to the Gym, the very place where the Golden Ranger, the evil paladin, had tried to kill his sister.

As he swung through the city, and landed in the wreckage that was left of the Gym, he thought about all the different ways he could make the Golden Ranger, the one who called himself 0, pay for his crime. Perhaps he would rip the head off the monster, or maybe stab him to death with a nearby two-by-four. Or, just as good, he could choke 0 to death with his chains. All three would work perfectly, whispered the Dark Emerald to Max, and it led him right through the damaged building right to where the Golden Ranger lay slumped against the wall, breath barely audible.

He glanced up through his visor and a groan penetrated the building. "Great," he grumbled, "it's the rookie." After some apparent effort, the Golden Ranger rose to his feet and shouldered his giant sword. "Max, I really, really don't have time to fight you right now. Can we just cut to the part where I beat you, turn you over to my side, and you show me where Sappho took May and 3 in the styling of an old-fashioned good guy/bad guy team up?"

Max roared, which was quite contrary to the evil paladin's plans. "Well, that's too bad," 0 murmured. "Guess I have to beat it out of you, huh?" He heaved up his behemoth sword, but before the fight could really get underway, Max took off. "Hey, get back here! I'm not finished with you!" The Golden Ranger followed in hot pursuit, exactly what the Dark Emerald Ranger wanted.

He led the paladin outside and from there began to swing through the city yet again. 0, not wishing to be outdone, caused a beautiful motorcycle to materialize in front of him. The engine revved and the Golden Ranger took off after him, breaking through the police roadblocks and darted through traffic in order to follow the Dark Emerald Ranger.

Max led him into the warehouse district, just as his Dark Emerald told him, only he led the Golden Ranger away from where Sappho was hiding into another, abandoned-looking warehouse that would serve his purposes perfectly. From what the Dark Sapphire Ranger had told him, 0 lived alone. It seemed fitting that he should die alone too.

He broke into the warehouse window and leapt down to the floor, his Dark Emerald absorbing the majority of the damage sustained from the impact of his feet against the floor. The Golden Ranger was hot on his heels and rammed through the warehouse wall underneath the windows, which caved in and allowed the motorcycle enough room for the Golden Ranger to rip through it. He stopped twenty feet from the Dark Emerald Ranger and disembarked. The motorcycle flared in with a bright light, then vanished into nothingness. A shotgun appeared in his hand.

"This is gonna suck," muttered 0.

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Agent 0 did not relish what was going to have to happen.

The Dark Emerald Ranger, snarling like a rabid beast, began circling him as a predator would stalk a cornered animal. His body was low, like a wrestler, or like a gladiator poised for combat. His chains were expanding, no doubt so the Dark Emerald Ranger could use them to twist up 0 and then kill him. It sent shivers down 0's spine, how animalistic his old friend had become. Max was unrecognizable, too corrupted by Dark Gem that now claimed his soul.

"Max," said the Golden Ranger, "you've got to remember who I am!"

Max replied with a low, "_Laaaaaaaaaade_…" and lifted his arms into attack position, twisting the extra chains along with the rest on his arms. 0 gripped the shotgun in his hand, his finger on the trigger. Electricity had worked once before, it would work again. The Dark Emerald Ranger roared, then lunged forward.

0 lifted the Lightning Laser and blasted. Three times he pulled the trigger and three times he missed, as Max spun through the air with such acrobatic grace that 0 was astonished that Max had been able to adapt so quickly to his new powers. The Golden Ranger dodged his foe's lunging body and fired off another blast, scoring a hit on his shoulder. Max groaned, but it didn't stop him this time. No, Max barely flinched from the wound and forgot about the injury immediately. He whipped his chain around, tightening it around the Golden Ranger's ankle and jerking.

0 lost his balance and fell, and felt the Dark Emerald Ranger drive his knee into his chest. He groaned and Max's hands were around his throat, trying to suck out the life from his body. "Ma-ax…" 0 grunted, as even the Kevlar-reinforced neck collar his uniform came with was beginning to strain from the pressure. "R-remember who I-I am." He shifted his leg and kneed Max in the groin, loosening the dark ranger's grip enough to dislodge him. 0 rolled away and fired with the Lightning Laser. He scored a hit this time on Max's face and the Dark Emerald Ranger convulsed briefly before vanishing into a nearby warehouse door.

"Max!" shouted 0, as he walked towards the door. "Think about this! I don't want to have to hurt you!" He kicked down the door and brought up the Lightning Laser. "Pi, where is he?" The warehouse was dark, so 0 switched the visor's visuals from standard to heat vision. The dark warehouse transformed into a multitude of colors, most of them blue or on that end of the visual spectra. A few of the containers were orange, probably some sort of chemical which required higher temperatures. However, there was one figure which was a bright red on the screen, and 0 was probably sure that if he were looking through real colors the figure would be green. "Pi, how much of the Synchronization Drive is left?"

"The gauge is currently full," answered Pi. To verify it, the visor's bottom displayed the gauge at the bottom of the screen, next to the stamina gauge. "But taking your condition into account, we'll only have enough for a quick fight."

0 nodded. "Good, we've got to do this fast and I've got a feeling it's going to get ugly. Download the Bolt Blade now." In his left hand, the giant sword appeared, accompanying the Golden Ranger's Lightning Laser. "Get ready to activate the Synchronization Drive on my mark."

The dark ranger screamed and lunged down from above. The chains preceded him and smashed the ground nearby 0's legs, probably trying to cripple the limbs. The Golden Ranger dodged, just as Max body slammed the ground. The Bolt Blade came down, smashing into Max's back, right as the Lightning Laser burst out three shots to the left leg. Max howled and threw one of his chains out. 0 had it wrap around the Bolt Blade, using the sword's massive surface as a shield, before shooting again from behind the cover.

"_Gallllaaaaaaade_…" groaned the Dark Emerald Ranger and tugged at the chain, dragging 0 forward. He would destroy the paladin…he would. He was stronger, he was better…the Dark Emerald that fueled him was so much better than the Ranger System that PKM used. Yes, the Dark Emerald whispered to him…exploit the weakness of the Ranger System.

He took off at a running start. The Bolt Blade came up, slicing at the air, but Max used the momentum of his chain to pull him through the air, diving just above the sword's arc and punched 0 right in the visor. The Golden Ranger groaned and staggered back, a trickle of blood forming from his nose. Max pressed his advantage, whipping 0's hide with his chains. Cracks of energy issued in annoyance from the ranger uniform and 0 noticed his stamina gauge was dropping.

He reached behind him, and pulled out Lu's Poke Ball. "Auxiliary Pokemon System, engage!" he ordered. "Rio Form!" He inserted the tiny azure ball into the morpher and the Arm Boosters emerged along with the rest of the new form. As Lu's AI set in, Max began coming towards him again. 0 pounded his massive claws together, sending a resounding echo through the area.

The Golden Ranger's Rio Form, much nimbler than his standard Ranger Form, leapt out of the way and laughed, just like a baby Pokemon. 0 wasn't about to get hit, no, that would be bad. Rio Form had a bad stamina gauge, since he was borrowing the powers of the little Riolu. Max snarled and vowed vengeance as he charged yet again, this time sweeping his chains in a wide arc to make certain he made contact.

He didn't. 0 playfully leapt between the metal chains, dodging each with precision that could not have been making Max very happy. Lu's encouraging laugh made him so much calmer and happier to be fighting someone so strong! "That all you got?" 0 challenged and managed to score a hit with his left arm, striking Max hard with the elbow. Naturally, this was followed by a slash from the Bolt Blade, which seemed so light and small in the gauntlets the Golden Ranger was wearing. Max roared as the blunt side of the sword struck his side and sent him flying. To finish the job, 0 fired as many times as he wanted with the Lightning Laser, enjoying the little sparks that traced Max's body every time he was hit by a blast.

Max screamed as he clawed his way back to his feet, demanding to know who 0 believed he was to do what he had just done. Of course, 0 heard this through the Pokemon language that Max was speaking, as the Dark Emerald Ranger was apparently too immersed in his Dark Gem to recall common verbs and participles and the like. "I think I'm the Golden Ranger," he replied with a shrug. "Got a problem with that?"

Apparently, Max did, for his body began glowing slightly. Curious, 0 watched a green aura emerge from the Dark Emerald Ranger, who looked so much like a Gallade, and surround him in a cloud that also looked very much like a Gallade. "Wow, that's pretty cool," murmured the Golden Ranger. "I think I can do that too." He accessed the Synchronization Drive, and spoke to Lu. "Hey, can we do Aura Sphere?"

"Aye, sir," piped up the cheerful Pokemon.

Then, the Golden Ranger had an even better idea. "Wait, what if we used the Aura Sphere, and we put it all around my body like he's doing? Wouldn't that be fun?"

Lu agreed on the vast amounts of fun that could be had from such an experiment. "I've never tried it before, but it's always fun to do new things!"

Lu began powering up the Aura Sphere immediately, which surrounded 0's body in an orange haze. The Golden Ranger noticed that a vast amount of his stats had improved, like Rio Form's stamina, from the shielding. It was a good plan! Excited, 0 swung his arms and his weapons around, waiting for the blazing fire that was the Dark Emerald Ranger to respond. "Come on!" cooed 0.

Max started off with a light jog, wanting to build up his speed properly, before breaking out into an all-out gallop across the warehouse floor. 0 followed suit, stampeding with all of his giddy strength at the Dark Emerald Ranger. Max roared, but the Golden Ranger only grinned.

When they traded punches, this time it felt like the whole warehouse was shaking from the sheer power of their exchanges. When 0 struck Max, he felt the recoil travel all the way up his arm and into his shoulder. And when Max kicked 0 down, it was as though getting hit by a bullet train. 0 choked, but spun through and side-swiped his foe in the neck before pausing to clear his windpipe. The Golden Ranger observed his stamina gauge, it was almost out of energy, as was the Synchronization Drive. "Lu, how long can we hold up Aura Sphere?" he asked.

"Maybe another minute or so," the baby Riolu answered. "Let's finish the fight quickly, or I won't be able to help anymore!" Taking the urgency in his AI's voice into account, 0 redoubled his efforts, focusing on blocking more than blind attacks. He needed to last as long as possible to make Max morph back from his Dark Emerald Ranger form. With a shout, he managed to channel all of the Aura into his palms and smashed into the Dark Gem clasped on Max's chest, forcing his opponent back. Then, for the final touch, he blasted him again with the Lightning Laser and followed up with a brutal slash from the Bolt Blade.

Max was stunned at the efforts put forth by his foe, the paladin had defeated him. With a hoarse cry, he felt his chains beginning to unravel, and the jade fire surrounding him extinguished, exposing his human flesh to the mercy of the Golden Ranger, the paladin who was his enemy. "N-no," he murmured, no longer subjugated to the Dark Emerald, and clutched the gem to his chest as he backed away from the fearsome warrior before him. "Y-you shouldn't be-be able to be-eat me! He said we were stronger than you!" The paladin tilted his head at this information, as if confused by the declaration's merit in face of the events that had taken place.

Finally, his Rio Form timed out, and the Arm Boosters, Bolt Blade, and the Lightning Laser vanished into wherever they had come from. The paladin took a step forward, causing Max to flinch. The ranger was going to kill him, thought Max, but he wouldn't go down without a fight. Boldly, the untransformed ranger stood up and assumed a position of combat to finish the fight in a true warrior's fashion.

But the Golden Ranger did not advance. Instead, he stood there, hands on his hips. "Man, if I knew that Sappho was this good, Max, I would never have let you get away," he muttered and scratched his head with a sigh. "Guess there's no choice, huh?" He looked down at Max through his visor and muttered the following: "Pi, power down."

The paladin glowed a bright gold, then the armor began to vanish into nothingness. In its place was a relatively comfortable uniform provided by PKM for the Golden Ranger, complete with goggles which covered the top of his face. "You recognize me now, Max?" he asked.

The Dark Emerald Ranger was confused. The face looked familiar, but from where he had no idea. "You're not gonna trick me," he announced. "You're trying to kidnap my sister, and I'm not going to let that happen!" He ran forward, but in human form he was no match for the paladin. 0 used a rather simple maneuver to knock Max off balance, then grabbed his hand and jammed it into a very uncomfortable position behind his back. "Let me go!"

"Not until you get back from the loony bin," muttered the ranger sarcastically. Perhaps he had absorbed a bit too much of Lu's personality and it had rubbed off even in his civilian form. "Come on, Max. Snap out of it." Why had it seeped so deeply into the gym leader's brain? "I need your help to beat Sappho. He's got my partner and your sister, and he's going to kill them if we don't do something about it." Max's thrashing indicated his intentions were the furthest things away from stopping.

"0," said the helpful voice of his Ranger Spirit, Pi. "I have an idea."

"Glad to hear anything resembling an idea right about now," he answered with a grunt, as Max had started trying to head butt the ranger's chest.

"In battle, I noticed that Max's Dark Emerald form looks a lot like a Gallade… Remember that corpse we found at _Petal_?"

0 thought so. "I remember something green lying on the floor in a heap of blood."

"Maybe that was Max's Gallade. Sappho must have killed it to make him a ranger, and the resulting emotions from the dead Pokemon are driving Max insane!" That made a lot of sense to 0. "Try helping his Pokemon set aside the wrath it feels because of its death, and you might be able to get Max out of Sappho's brainwashing."

"Let me go let me go!" gnashed Max, his struggling becoming even more difficult for 0 to keep a handle over. But the Golden Ranger was firm, he would not lose Max again to the darkness of the Dark Gem clasped around his neck.

"Max," he said, "remember who it was that killed Gallade."

Max snapped out of the stronghold, and lunged for 0, grabbing at the shirt with the intent of tearing it off and helping himself to the innards of his foe. As he tried to undo the shirt, the Dark Emerald Ranger's finger brushed so softly over the surface of a chain 0 was wearing, with a small gold ring on the end. He stopped what he was doing at the touch, the cool, soothing touch, and gasped.

He saw _Gallade killed…he was screaming in rage as the contract came to fruition. Sappho laughed, dancing around with the Pokemon's corpse, his first Pokemon's corpse…before tossing it to the ground. As the gym leader screamed, tears falling down from his cheeks, he felt the Dark Emerald fill with the one sacrifice due it: a Pokemon bonded to its trainer's heart, the wrathful and pained spirit of the Gallade furthering him to wrap the elongating chain around his arms until he pressed the Gem into his flesh…_

_ "Dark Gem Ignite!"_

_ And, as he transformed, the voice inside his head, the pained voice of the Gallade, roaring for revenge, not caring whom it received the revenge from…He attacked the Golden Ranger, who had never hurt his sister, and helped the Dark Sapphire Ranger, who wanted her, and the silver-haired girl, all for himself…_

_ "No!"_

Max broke away, breathing heavily with sweat streaming down his face, and convulsed from shock. The Golden Ranger was there to help and turned him on his side to make sure he did not choke from the sick he spewed at what he had become. "I'm a-I'm a monster!" he moaned and wrapped his arms around his face. "I'm a monster!"

0 helped Max up. "No you're not," he told the gym leader. "You're just…messed up a bit. We all are. Get used to it."

Max shoved him away. "No, I'm a monster! I helped that-_thing_-kidnap my own sister! So he can kill her! I'm a monster!"

The Golden Ranger smacked Max hard in the face, so sharply in fact that a dull _thwack_ issued through the abandoned warehouse. "Get over yourself," he muttered. "You're not helping the situation by crying about it. We need to save May and 3. We have to get going right now to do that." He started to leave but Max didn't follow him. "What are you waiting for?" He stood by the door and folded his arms impatiently, he didn't have any time for this!

"Who are you guys?" Max asked. "And what's my sister doing mixed up with everything? How do I know you're the side I can trust?"

"You really want to do this now?" 0 said. "Even though every second we waste here means a second longer your sister is in danger?"

Max nodded. "I'll save my sister," he verified. "But I want to know how I can trust you."

0 sighed, and shook his head. "Fine," he grumbled. "I suppose a little bit of show and tell will encourage you to move faster." He walked up to Max Birch and, with one movement, parted his hair and removed his goggles. "Look at me, Max Birch. Do you know who I am?"

Max's expression changed, from one of confusion to one of utter shock. "It-it's you! You're-"

"-That's not my name anymore," interrupted the Golden Ranger, who had reapplied his goggles and matted his hair again. "But you could say my new one is 'Keean Toby', the face you're familiar with."

The Dark Emerald Ranger was astonished. "But what are you doing here? And-and like that?" he asked, gesturing to the morpher mounted on 0's wrist. "I thought you…we all thought you had…"

"Gone away?" 0 inquired. "Well, I did do that, but for a different reason than most people think. Look, I don't have time for this, Max. May's life is on the line and so is my partner's. I promise that once this is over I'll explain everything to you, but we have to go right now and you need to show me where Sappho's keeping his hostages. They're after something of May's, Max, and they will do anything to get it."

Max hesitated…he knew why the Dark Gem Rangers wanted May. But 0 had said that time was of the essence, and they needed to hurry. "I know why they want May, Keean."

"Call me by my codename: 0. Keean's just a cover."

"Uh…0, I know why they want May. They want something called Dark Gold from her, they said it was powerful. Or, Sappho said it was powerful, but I don't know all the details."

The Golden Ranger nodded. "Okay, we'll work with that. You know where they're being kept?" Max said he did, so 0 consulted his AI to confirm the location. "It's about ten miles from here on foot. Let's ranger up and get going. Can you morph again?"

Max didn't know how, but the Dark Emerald somehow told him that it could transform him again. "Not a problem," he said, and took the chain to wrap it around his arms. 0 readied his morpher. "Let's go kick some blue butt."

"_Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power_!"

"_Dark Gem Ignite_!"

Two flashes of light, one golden and one emerald, flooded the warehouse. Once darkness returned again, 0's voice issued: "Download the 0 Cycle, Pi."

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Serena Brine's eyes slowly fluttered open. It was dark, so it didn't particularly matter whether she kept her eyes closed or not. The second thing she noticed after the dim light was the fact that her arms were killing her, and her feet weren't planted on anything. She twisted her neck, trying to get an idea of where she was…her body ached… "Where am I?" she murmured, the last thing she recalled was wishing 0 good luck before he had left to deal with Sappho at the Petalburg Gym. She tried moving her arms, but realized that the reason they ached was because they were holding her up with chains. Then, and only then, did she see the silhouetted figure standing in front of her. "Who…is it?"

"My, my, my, princess," murmured Sappho, as his ranger form emerged from the shadows. "I've had some trouble getting the both of you here to have tea with me. That partner of yours is a bit too annoying for my tastes. I almost failed to get your friend over there." He jerked his helmet at the space to Serena's right. "Now she was hard to get."

The White Ranger was confused. Friend? Aside from 0, she really didn't use that term for anyone. She glanced over, and her jaw dropped. Hanging next to her, her face drooped onto her chest, was May Birch, her face battered and bruised like a rag doll. She wore nothing but her torn nightgown. "What do you want with us?" Serena asked. "Why are we here?"

Sappho cackled and stepped forward. "Now that's a good question, princess," whispered the Dark Sapphire Ranger and he rubbed his palms together with glee. "Well, she's here because she has something that we want, something that's bonding to her. She'll have to die. Unfortunately, I can't do it just yet. No…I need to wait and take her to a few friends of ours."

"Then…why am I here?"

At this, Sappho rocked his head back and launched himself into a fest of voracious laughter. He just didn't stop, so hilarious was the question, that he found himself rolling on the floor, hitting the ground with his fists. "Oh, my, you really are too much," he retorted. "You ask 'Why do you need me here?' like you couldn't guess!" Sappho began vigorously rubbing his own chest. "'Oh Golden Boy'!" he moaned in falsetto. "'Come save me!" He snickered and threw his hands down. "You are here to be a sacrifice, little Serena. That thing we want, it requires you too! Isn't that lovely?"

"S-sacrifice…?" That didn't sound good to Serena.

Sappho wagged his head up and down. "Yes, sacrifice! S-A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E." He pointed to the Dark Sapphire sticking out of his chest to properly explain. "You know what this is?"

"A freak of nature?" inquired Serena.

"Oh, doesn't she have some tongue to her," said the stunned Dark Sapphire Ranger, who proceeded to walk right over to the woman and slap her in the face sharply with his gauntlet. She hissed from the pain and he continued. "No, little girlie. I'm taking about my little Dark Sapphire. Your friend here happens to have a weapon we want, a ring made of Dark Gold. She'll have to die, of course, she's just a body holding onto the Dark Gold for us. But our friends need the Dark Gold to beat up your partner, and you're the perfect sacrifice to contract with. Yes, quite perfect."

"You're not making much sense," she grumbled. "When are we-"

A low moan issued through the room, both Serena and Sappho turned to where May had just awakened, and groaned as her mind began experiencing the pain her body had been processing while she was unconscious. "W-where am I? Max! Sarah!" May started frantically flaying about in her restraints. "Who are you? Take me to my family right now!"

"Shut up, woman," muttered Sappho. "Talking just makes me make your death even more painful." He walked up and grabbed her by the neck, forcing the air out. "You're going to shut up, got it? A simple nod will do." May, fear in her eyes, nodded, and he released the hold. "Now then, I think I'm about to have a guest soon. I must prepare the welcoming party." With that, he turned around and strode into the darkness, somewhere out there a door slammed shut.

Serena turned her head. "M-May?" she asked and turned to her fellow cellmate. "Are you alright?"

May was crying and she shook her head. "W-what's going on? Where am I?"

Serena shrugged. "I…don't really know that," she admitted and looked around. "From the sound of things, I think we're in a warehouse somewhere, but I have no idea where it is. He's…he's gonna-"

May sighed. "I-I have to go find my daughter. I need to know she's safe."

The White Ranger chuckled at that. "Sorry, May, but I really don't think we're going anywhere for a while." She looked around, trying to find anything that would help them escape, but nothing presented itself. Sappho's plan had been quite perfect. "How are you feeling?"

"My body hurts," she muttered. She looked up, Serena noticed the strain it required of her bruised muscles to do so. "Hey, you're Mr. Toby's friend, aren't you? Serena?" The White Ranger nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"Actually," said the white-haired vixen, "that's a bit of a long story."

"It looks like we have time for one," May pointed out.

Serena laughed. "Well, that's true… Let's see, what can I tell you?"

"How about who that man is?" suggested May. "He's always trying to attack me and my family."

"We call him Sappho. He's a member of an organization calling themselves the Dark Gems, and he's their sapphire ranger. We were assigned to keep an eye on you since the incident in Saffron City because we didn't know what they wanted…but now we do."

"Who do you work for?"

Serena considered that. Well, seeing as her cover was already blown, there wasn't much that she could hide from May that she wouldn't figure out. "I'm a member of PKM, an anti-terrorist mercenary group that works with international governments to protect and serve the citizens and Pokemon of the world."

"I remember you guys…you were the ones who took down Team Rocket a while back."

Serena smiled. "That was a long time ago."

"And…are you one of the rangers?"

She nodded. "I'm the White Ranger," she replied. "Agent 3, fourth ranking ranger." She shook her right hand, and May noticed the white morpher on her wrist.

"Oh…you've been helping me, haven't you? Along with the other, golden guy."

"That's Agent 0, our Golden Ranger," Serena explained. "He's my commanding officer on this mission, and the highest ranking ranger in PKM."

"Is the Golden Ranger Mr. Toby?"

Serena hesitated. Agent 0's birth name was a secret that very few individuals were privy to. His travel records, birth certificate, life history, all of his private records had been removed. His public image, nothing could be done about that, the world at large assumed the man who had become the Golden Ranger had become a hermit somewhere in the mountains. 0 had had to go through multiple physical and mental transformations, to the point where not even his former wife could recognize him.

"Yes," she said, "the Golden Ranger is Keean Toby."

Serena noticed a tingle form on May's face, one of a very reddish hue. "I-I had wondered about him," she told the White Ranger. "See, to be honest, he…reminds me of someone I used to know. I like him."

Well, thought Serena, at least 0 and May were matched in terms of thickness. "Glad you like him," she grumbled, slightly disappointed with the information. "I do too."

May had no answer to that, possibly because both women were quite embarrassed at the astonishing but not altogether shock of learning of their rivalry. Finally, she looked up again and twisted her body to face Serena. "So, what are we going to do?"

Serena blew a raspberry and shrugged. "Got me, May." She had been trying to reach her morpher, but the angle at which her hands had been tied made this impossible, and she couldn't very well position herself better because of her unhealed injuries. "I guess we wait to be rescued. 0 is probably demolishing the entire city looking for us as we speak. Since he hasn't come yet, I'm guessing they disabled my morpher's communications with a jamming device."

May nodded. "Do you think he'll come in time?"

The ranger laughed. "He doesn't like to admit it, but he has a thing for dramatics. Knowing him, he'll probably get here at the very last minute. That's about how long it'll take for his thick skull to figure out where we are."

May giggled. "He's quite helpless, isn't he?"

Serena found it odd that she was getting along with 0's former wife, and even more so that it wasn't bothering her all that much. "He's…special. Well, he is to me anyway."

"Are you close?"

Serena shook her head. "We used to be, but now we aren't so much. He doesn't like letting people into his life, if he had a choice I wouldn't even be here."

May nodded sympathetically. "Does he know that you like him?"

"Who knows?" she wondered. "He's so difficult to read when it comes to things like that." She sank her head into her chest and winced. "But I do know that he'll come for both of us, May. He gets really annoyed when his friends are in trouble."

May looked relieved when she heard that. "That's good," she murmured. "I need to get back to my daughter, I'm sure she's worried sick about me." She sighed. "And I need to find Max, I don't know where he is."

"Max was kidnapped, right?"

"Yes, but how did you know that?"

"I've been spying on you for a while," Serena pointed out. "Kinda hard to keep stuff like that on the down low." May chuckled at her idiocy. "We know where your brother is." She left out the final detail, that Serena had been kidnapped by the Dark Emerald Ranger while Sappho had gone to collect May.

"Where is he?" asked May anxiously.

"He's… I think Keean Toby is going to be bringing Max with him. Or, at least, he's going to try. Max is in a little trouble, but if anyone can help him out, it'll be your Mr. Toby."

The conversation ended quite abruptly, as Sappho returned with a flourish from wherever it was that he had chosen to conceal himself. "He's earlier than I expected," he muttered to himself, brushing past the women without a moment's glance. "And he managed to bring my pet with him. How dare he?"

"That, May, means that the cavalry has just pulled in," Serena snickered.

"Shut up," Sappho retorted, smashing Serena's mouth with his fist. Blood clogged her mouth and she spat some onto the ground near Sappho's feet.

May cried out. "Serena!"

The Dark Sapphire Ranger was in no mood for the unkind behavior his guests were acting in, and silenced May by punching her body like a well-toned piece of meat, before smacking her brow and knocking her out. "Women," grumbled the dark ranger, "they never know when to shut up." He glanced around. "Where are those Rangerlings?"

Serena groaned. Hurry up, 0, she thought. _May doesn't have much time left_.

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The Golden Ranger, flanked by the Dark Emerald Ranger, proceeded through the warehouse with an immense amount of unconcern for the local supply of Rangerlings. 0 simply shot them with the Lightning Laser, while Max quite enjoyed pouncing on the unsuspecting creatures and tearing them to shreds. It made no difference the amount, or the onslaught brought by the little black things. 0 and Max calmly wandered through Sappho's lair, taking it in turns to cause the racks to tumble on the Rangerlings, crushing their bodies in the most painful ways possible. Their squeals of pain reached neither of the rangers, nor did they spare them any mercy.

"Pi," muttered the Golden Ranger, as they stepped towards the second room of the warehouse, "analyze the blueprints for this building and scan for life. We need to know where May and 3 are."

A Rangerling popped out of the ground, but it didn't even phase 0. The Lightning Laser came down and burst the Rangerling's chest plate wide open, scattering the insides into dust. Behind him, 0 could hear the sounds of a head being torn off, along with the growls of his new partner indulging the vengeful spirit of his Dark Gem. But Max had learned some degree of restraint, because he wasn't stopping to obliterate everything in his path like the psychotic animal he was under the influence of the Dark Gem. No, Max was keeping up with him, keeping pace with the Golden Ranger's massacre so they wouldn't be delayed. Finally, 0 heard Pi's voice again.

"They're being held in the room above," it announced. "On the far east side of this room, there will be a staircase. Get there, and it will take you to where Sappho is keeping them." 0 thanked the mouse, then turned his attentions to about five Rangerlings rushing him. Five blasts knocked them all down into dust.

"Max, you keeping up?" he asked, to focus the Dark Emerald Ranger on the mission. "May and 3 are in the room above us. We're heading for the stairs."

"_Laaaaaade_," replied Max with glee. 0 thanked his lucky stars that both he could understand Max and that Max was grateful for the knowledge. The Dark Emerald Ranger, to celebrate this knowledge, crushed a Rangerling with an extended piece of chain. Dust followed them all the way to the stairs. Both of them quite adamant about not wasting time, the rangers rushed up the flight of the stairs, both filled in their hearts with rage at Sappho. Reaching the top of the stairs, they came to a sudden halt when a giant iron door was revealed to be standing in between them and their destination.

"Oh…this is gonna suck…" 0 groaned and put his hand on his helmet. He glanced around the area, searching for something that would pry the door open. "Rio Form probably won't have enough strength…" Then, he glanced towards Max, and there he had a good idea. "Max, are you strong enough to open the doors?" The Dark Emerald Ranger snickered, and proceeded to take the lead. 0 wisely decided to back away. "Do it gently. We don't know what's on the other side."

Max nodded and the chains on his arms elongated to cover the door's hinges and handles. Once he was certain the chains were tight enough, Max began to pull the door down. The metal gnashed and grated together, defying the Dark Emerald Ranger's desires for it to come tumbling down. Slowly, ever so slowly, the set of doors came apart, then down to the ground before the two rangers.

"Wow," murmured 0. "Remind me never to get on your bad side again."

Max growled his reply with a low, "_Gallade…lade…_" and 0 could swear that his old friend was grinning behind his visor. Crouching low, the Dark Gem defect returned to his place by the Golden Ranger's side, and waited for his rescuer to begin walking.

"Let's not keep them waiting," he said and walked through the cloud of dust Max had created. Their boots clanked against the metal floor, and 0's visor began scanning the area in front of him with infrared false color so he could see properly. The clouds of grey promptly disappeared in a field of golden hues. "Max, Sappho's not visible. Sniff him out with your Dark Gem. May and 3 are in front of us, in chains. Don't do anything until we know where Sappho is." Max whimpered, he wanted to kill, but would resist until he was certain his sister was safe.

The dust cleared. Both Serena and May stood before them, suspended in the air by sets of chains. May was unconscious, her head sagging upon her chest, mouth open. His scans detected a faint pulse and light breathing, possibly from the shock of her kidnapping. Serena, on the other hand, was barely hanging on. Her injuries from her last fight hadn't opened up yet, but the psyche trauma was threatening to lapse her into a coma.

"Hey…" she mumbled, her teeth stained with blood. "'Bout time you got here. Think you can get me and her out of this?" She giggled, then had to stop. It hurt too much. She noticed the crouching individual beside the Golden Ranger. "Oh, you made a new friend… Good, you need more of those."

"Don't talk," he ordered. "Sappho, come out here now!"

A cackle issued over the room, one at which Max issued a snarl at. "Hello, Golden Prick!" it replied merrily, as if it was inviting the Golden Ranger to a fancy dress party. "Nice to see you here!" Then, as if disappointed, it said, "Oh, I see you have someone new in your life… Maxy, I'm very angry with you! Get back over here right now, or I swear your May learns what life is like without arms!" To prove his point, May's shackles began drifting apart. Max roared in protest.

"Get over here, pet!" ordered Sappho. The Dark Sapphire Ranger emerged from the shadows of the room, standing in between both of his beloved hostages. "I'll not have you associating with disgusting filth like Golden Boy there! It's dangerous to your health, and your sister's!" The shackles tightened.

"Pi," whispered 0, "prepare to download the Bolt Blade on my mark." Then, he turned to Max, who was quite confused as to what he should do. "_Lade, Gallade Gal._" The Dark Emerald Ranger growled his reluctance, but in the face of his sister's safety was willing to obey. Max dragged himself unwillingly towards Sappho, and began snarling at the liar when he got close.

"Oh, calm yourself Maxy," murmured Sappho and stroked his pet's helmet. "I know you want to help your sister, but we need to make sure that the Dark Gold bonds to the person we want. And it really, really likes your sister …" He glanced up at May and 0 could swear he heard Sappho lick his lips. The shackles began stretching again, pulling May's arms wider and wider apart. "And I really, really don't…"

"_Go_!"

Sappho, as quick as he was, could not match the speed of his adversary. 0's body burst forward, leaping high into the air with the aid of his momentum. The giant sword slashed through the air, shredding the chains like paper. May fell to the ground, but 0 was quick. He grabbed the woman in midair, and clutched her in his arms. Serena, on the other hand, managed to land, though with extreme difficulty. She groaned, but got away from the battle that would undoubtedly ensue. Sappho tried to stop what was happening, but found himself suddenly fighting with his former protégé, who had wrapped chains around his body and forced the sapphire ranger to the ground.

"3!" shouted 0. "You able to morph?"

Serena nodded. "Just barely…he didn't damage my morpher too much." She raised the white morpher and pressed the trigger button. "_PKM Spirit…Activate_!" She was enveloped with light and transformed into the White Ranger. She sagged, but downloaded her war fan. "How's May doing?"

As she ran up to him, 0 scanned May's body again. "Got a pulse, she needs treatment," he decided, and handed her to his partner. "You're not strong enough to take him on again. Get her out of here and to safety. I'll alert the authorities to get over here as soon as possible."

Serena shouldered May's unconscious body. "Got it, 0," she replied and looked to Max. "Go help him. Bakaguru, 415, and I can handle May."

He smiled. "Thank you, 3."

She sighed. "You don't change easily." She rushed from the room, leaving the Golden and the Dark Emerald Rangers alone to face their adversary. Max, sensing his diversion was no longer required, leapt away from his former master and rejoined his new tamer.

"How we holding up, Pi?"

"Authorities have been confirmed to be en route to the warehouse," it reported. "Bakaguru and 415 are meeting up with Serena and May a few blocks downtown in a chopper, she's being taken directly to the PKM Headquarters for her own protection. Auxiliary forces are being dispatched to place her family in protective custody, they should be at her house soon."

Sappho was livid. He disliked when he, the great Dark Gem Ranger, was outclassed by a weak, foolish PKM Ranger, who needed technology just to be on par with his greatness. "You know," he said and began walking forward, "you're really starting to piss me off." The scimitar materialized in his hand, almost as if it had grown from the left gauntlet and spawned off into the glove. "No captives, no recruit, no Dark Gold, you know how annoyed my people are gonna be?" His voice was high, angered, but it didn't phase 0.

"Sorry to spoil your plans," 0 retorted, "but you're about to be in much bigger trouble than just making some people mad. You'll be lucky to ever see the light of day again when we're done with you."

"Ah…you gonna put me in jail?" He laughed with a very disturbing disinterest at his loss of freedom. "Just try it, Golden Boy. My big Dark Sapphire will never release itself from me, not until I die! Same goes for Maxy-poo! No one with a Dark Gem contract can live without it…and with my Dark Sapphire, I'll break out again and again and again until you, your family, and your friends are all dead!"

0 reached behind him, and pulled out Lu's Poke Ball. "Well then, we're just going to make sure you don't keep coming back, won't we?" he asked casually and inserted the azure ball into his morpher. "Auxiliary Pokemon System- Rio Form."

The morpher glowed and 0's Arm Boosters arrived to increase his strength. The rage in his mind subsided, replacing itself with a playful urge to fight. He gripped the Bolt Blade, which now seemed so much smaller with his gauntlets. "So, you mind if we beat you up now? I think my friend here's kinda eager to get his pound of flesh, if you catch my drift." Max agreed and wagged his head with a growl of anticipation. His chains were elongating again, dragging on the floor like snakes.

"Ready, Lu?" asked 0.

"Aye, sir!" piped up the auxiliary AI. The baby Pokemon was just as eager as 0 was to fight.

The Bolt Blade, so much lighter in Rio Form, swerved down and clashed against the scimitar. 0 wielded it in one hand, leaving his other one open to punch Sappho in the stomach and send the evil ranger flying. Max leapt up behind the Golden Ranger, and the paladin gripped his massive sword just as the Dark Emerald Ranger landed on it, propelling Max towards his former master. The chains that covered his arms lashed against the fallen dark ranger, causing screams to erupt from the helmet. Max regrouped, falling into line with 0.

"Max, remember: don't kill him," 0 ordered. "He's more valuable to us alive."

"_Lade_," replied Max with a nod, assuring 0 that Sappho could take a brutal pounding and survive, if such a thing became necessary. 0 jumped up and smashed the ground with his left Arm Booster, missing Sappho's dodging body by only a hair, and forming a crater in the surface.

"Wow," he said to himself. "This thing's pretty powerful. Fun!"

Sappho lunged and the scimitar slashed the air above the Golden Ranger. The Arm Booster came up, blocking the sharp blade with its blunt claw. "Wow," he said with interest. "Looks like blue can be beat with blue, huh, Sappho?" He grabbed the blade and jerked it away, right before batting the Dark Sapphire Ranger over the head with the Bolt Blade's blunt end. He stumbled from the impact, right into the waiting chains of the Dark Emerald Ranger. Max chuckled and tightened his grip.

"N-no…" groaned Sappho. He tried to grab Max, to flip him away, but the defected ranger was intelligent, following the prompting of the redirected vengeance of his Dark Emerald to satisfy Gallade's murder. Oh, and that murder would be avenged… 0 strode forward, bringing forth the Bolt Blade.

"Activate the Synchronization Drive," the Golden Ranger commanded, prompting the AI to display the Riolu-based attacks available. The gauge was filled, perfect for a final blow. "Synchronization Drive: Aura Sphere." The Arm Boosters began charging up the aura, channeling it into the Bolt Blade. With Lu's aid, he built up a decent amount along the blade of the sword, making the energy circle it like a buzz saw until it resembled a bright, azure glow that began generating steam from its speed. "Max, make sure that he doesn't get away from this." He would smash the Dark Sapphire embedded in Sappho's chest and that would be the end of it.

"You can't do this!" screamed Sappho in denial, even as his visor stared at the buzzing blade of his foe's sword. "I'll kill you for thinking you can do this to me!" He began struggling again, but the chains were too numerous-he could not free himself from the Dark Emerald Ranger's choke-hold.

"No, Dark Sapphire Ranger," said 0. "You've caused enough damage."

And he struck the sapphire in the center of the chest with the whirling aura sword.

"_No_!"

Everything exploded. Both the Golden and Dark Emerald Rangers were thrown back from the force that Sappho's body produced upon being punctured by the aura. 0 found himself struggling to keep his footing when he was forced to land on a nearby wall, and Max attached himself to an overhead pipe with his chains, swaying in the wind of the erupted.

But, when the dust cleared, Sappho was still standing.

He laughed. Laughed and laughed and laughed like there was no tomorrow. His cackling chilled even 0's Lu-influenced mind, and he glared up at 0, who was unable to move from where he was perched due to the amount of force that Sappho was still emitting.

He was transformed.

The fabric on his costume, the pieces that looked so much like the real chains that sat on Max's arms, was shattered, scattered in pieces around his feet. The gauntlets were gone as well, like Sappho had just been lifted from the bonds of slavery. "Yes…" he hissed with a sigh of happiness and surveyed himself. His helmet was a brilliant, blazing azure, no longer the dark blue it had formerly been. Though now his helmet's design was split in two, with something resembling a dark sword's blade right down the middle. The visor was no longer a rectangle, but pentagrams that faced outwards from the sword blade, which was beginning to look a lot like a Pokemon's horn.

The Dark Sapphire Ranger's body had changed as well. The Dark Sapphire, now reinforced with even more power, resembled a five-sided shape, again like a pentagram. His suit glittered with sapphire, his chest in addition to the powerful Dark Sapphire had a new armored vest studded with blue gems. He looked kind of like a biker, decked with alternating sapphire and black colors.

"Much better, Golden Boy," sighed Sappho. "I've only ever heard rumors about doing something like this!"

The pressure that the Dark Sapphire Ranger was emitting died down, just enough for 0 to land on his feet hard and Max to flip down to the ground. "What the hell just happened?" 0 asked Max, as they regrouped. Max replied that he didn't know, and neither did the Dark Emerald.

"Isn't it obvious?" inquired Sappho. "I've shattered my chains!"

He raised his hand and 0 noticed with horror that all of his fingers were elongated with talons like that of a bird's. "Dark Sapphire Ranger," he sighed with pleasure, "Shattered Form!" He stepped forward, his boots also containing the same kind of talons that his gloves did. The black pentagrams that were his eyes seemed to glint with pleasure.

He rushed forward, his feet digging into the metal ground. 0 brought forth the Bolt Blade, but it might have as well been made of rubber for all the good it did now. Sappho blocked it with one claw and grabbed the Golden Ranger with the other. "Now you're useless. Not even this happy little form will do anything for you!" He bashed 0's entire body against the wall, putting all his force into it. 0 cried out in pain as his back met hard steel and he dropped to the ground. "And as for you…" he murmured, turning his attention to the Dark Emerald Ranger, "I'll show you what we do with stray dogs!"

Max fared better, mostly because he was much more agile. He dodged the first blow, then the second, but finally the monster caught up with him and shoved him down into the ground. "See, Maxy-poo? This could have been yours!" He punched Max in the face. "That Chained Form of yours ain't got jack on this! No, this is the perfection of a Dark Gem Ranger!" The horn on Sappho's helmet closed in on Max's helmet, almost in a kiss, then Sappho jabbed it through the armor and into Max's head. The Dark Emerald Ranger shrieked as his skull was penetrated, then was silenced.

Sappho pulled away, his horn now soaked with red blood, and noticed he had held onto Max's arms a bit too hard, as the talons in his gloves had sunken deep into the boy's arms, drawing pools of blood.

"S-Sappho," coughed 0, as he rose. His Rio Form's stamina had run out…there was only so much the baby Pokemon could take, and he clutched the Bolt Blade. "C-come on. Fight me, if you think you can." He was no longer thinking of himself: he was thinking of the future. He needed to think of Serena, of May, of Sarah. Sappho would go after them next, if 0 didn't stall them. His vision was blurry.

"Meh, it's such a shame that he'll live," Sappho whispered in longing, staring at Max. "I could shatter that Dark Emerald…but Axi and Bix will want it intact…" Then, out of nowhere, a weird noise began playing, like a ring tone. "Ah, I've been waiting for this!" He retrieved a cell phone from somewhere on his belt and flipped it open. "Hello…?"

"W-who is that?"

"Shut up! I'm on the phone!" barked Sappho, then resumed his call. "Yes…yes… Oh goodie, this was all too perfect, thank you for helping me… Yes, I'm quite glad that this plan came together. See you soon, love." He shut off the phone, then turned to 0, and laughed in triumph. "The diversion worked!"

0 was confused. "D-diversion?"

Sappho giggled. "Ah, did I forget to mention that? Yes, diversion. You see, I have this friend…she was so happy to help me conduct this little experiment. We wanted to see what was more important to you, Agent 0 of the PKM. Little May, or…" He snickered.

It was only then that it dawned on the Golden Ranger.

"If you'll excuse me," murmured Sappho, "I have a date with Sarah Birch."

Then he vanished, leaving 0 to scream his lungs out in rage.


	16. Morph 16

**Morph Sixteen: Evolve or Die**

Sarah Birch was crying.

Though her grandmother was holding her, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay, the little girl wailed and wailed, pleading with the night air for her mother. Her grandfather was over to the side, talking with one of the nearby police people, a woman with blue hair who seemed to be in charge, but there was no news. Sarah and Caroline sat near several police investigators, apparently there was some federal program preparing to take the family into custody and they had to be ready for them.

"Grandma?" asked Sarah.

"Yes, baby?" replied Caroline.

She buried her face in her grandmother's arms. "I want my Mommy back."

Caroline nodded, there were tears in the woman's eyes. "I know, honey, I know. Don't worry, the police will bring her back to us."

"Mrs. Birch?" Caroline looked up, one of the policemen had spoken to them. She asked what it was they wanted, and they informed them that a representative of the organization that would be taking them in had arrived. Norman met them, and the family was led to the individual.

She was leaning on what looked like a used green car, chewing on a piece of gum. She glanced at the family, and spat out the piece onto the street. Sarah looked her over, the lady looked like she was from a government place, she was decked in a trench coat and sunglasses, it was impossible to tell what she really looked like, aside from the face that her hair was black. "You're the Birch family, right?" she asked, in a low, deep voice that Sarah thought sounded fake.

"That's right," Norman replied. "I'm Norman, and this is my wife Caroline and our granddaughter Sarah. They told us you were going to take us into protective custody."

She shook her head. "Think there's been a mix up," she muttered. "I'm only here for the little girl." She looked down at Sarah, her sunglasses quite out of place with the night's darkness. "Backup units are coming for you two, you're being taken to separate locations for your own safety. But the girl's being targeted, we need to get her to safety." She put her hand in her pocket and took another piece of gum out. "You two need to stay here so we can keep the terrorists guessing. Understand?"

The grandparents hesitated. "Y-you sure this is the only way?" Caroline asked. The agent nodded her head and brought out her badge, a cell-phone device with a hologram.

"I have my orders, please allow me to protect your family," she explained. Sarah's hands lingered for a moment on her grandmother's before she was given to the agent. The agent thanked them for their services and led Sarah into the passenger's seat of her car. She closed the door, walked to the other side, and only after Sarah was secure and safe did she start the engine and drive off into the night.

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked.

"Quiet," answered the agent. She pulled out the cell phone she had used for her identification, and dialed a few numbers before putting the phone to her ear. "Sap…? Yes, I acquired her… Meet at the safe house." She shut off the phone and grinned broadly. She had such sparkling teeth.

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked again.

The agent's face twisted into a bitter and angry grin. "Somewhere special to meet some new friends. Or, should I say, a new friend." She didn't seem to be looking at the highway, actually it seemed like she was listening to the wind of the open window next to her, following its instructions. "We have been quite eager to obtain you, and you are a difficult target for a little girl."

"N-no," answered Sarah. She was starting to get a bad feeling, the kind that crept up her spine like a big spider. "Where are we going?"

"Did I not just say not to ask me that?" grumbled the woman. "It irritates me to no end when Sap forces me to come clean up his messes. He swore to me he could handle this on how own." She snorted her nose in annoyance. "I told them it was a terrible idea to recruit from a sanatorium." She groaned, she didn't even want to be in Petalburg. She wanted to be somewhere tropical and warm, not cold like Petalburg so often was at this time of year.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked.

The woman thought about that. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt anyone for you to know who I am. I'm…Ame. Or, at least, that's what my friends call me." She turned the wheel, heading towards the downtown districts Sarah's mommy told her never to go to. "You're Sarah, right?" The car began slowing down and finally stopped in front of a run-down building that in no way looked safe. Ame unbuckled her seat belt, then reached for Sarah and led her into the apartment complex.

"I'm scared, Ame," Sarah complained.

She nodded. "I know," she replied. "But I have no choice in the matter. Come, Sap is waiting for you as we speak."

"Who's Sap?"

"I am just supposed to give you to him," she explained. Ame led Sarah up several steps to the second floor, where she located an abandoned looking door and opened it. Inside, Sarah could hear scratching and moaning, and refused to go inside.

"I don't wanna go in there," she protested. "It's scary."

But Ame didn't want to hear that. Sighing, she grabbed Sarah by the scruff of her neck and tossed her into the apartment, slamming the door shut and locking it behind her. "Sap! I brought her!"

The scraping ceased, and Sappho emerged from the other room, still transformed. He snickered, and gestured that Ame bring the girl forward. He was even more terrifying to the girl than she had ever remembered, with his new claws, new mask, new everything. Ame, however, didn't look the slightest bit intimidated.

"You scared?" he asked the two of them, his voice low and menacing.

Ame shrugged. "You look unchanged since I last saw you," she retorted.

Sappho was quite annoyed by that. "I'd be more kind, if I were you, Ame," he growled. "After all, I've achieved Shattered Form, something no one else has yet."

"Achieving Shattered Form means very little in the grand scheme of things," she pointed out. She reached into her trench coat, and fingered what looked like a Dark Gem of her own. "Remember, boy, your Dark Sapphire was only made by the deaths of so many Pokemon. _Mine_ was made by something else entirely." Sarah tried to see what it was, it looked like a glint of purple, or so she thought, as it could have been black. Regardless, Ame put the Dark Gem back into her coat and turned towards the door. "Remember: you are only the runt of the litter, Sap. Even that boy you found, Eme, will be stronger than you one day. And the rest of us already are."

"Emerald," grumbled Sappho. "How mad are Axi and Bix? They haven't contacted since I transformed."

Ame didn't know. "They said nothing to me," she said, and opened the door. "I advise reminding them that you have a use before they decide it for you." She left, slamming the door behind her. The Dark Sapphire Ranger hissed at her retreating figure, before remembering that Sarah was there.

"Hey, kiddie," he whispered under his mask. "Wanna play?"

Sarah screamed.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Bakaguru Niwa parked the car directly in front of the warehouse. In the passenger seat, 415 loaded a magazine into her gun and clicked it in, opening the door and bolting for the warehouse the instant that the car was slow enough to safely do so. Bakaguru shifted the car into neutral, before looking into the backseat. The car was a modified hybrid, something that looked like a cross between an ambulance and a sedan. He headed into the back of the car, where both May Birch and Serena Brine were waiting for him.

"How is she doing?" he asked the White Ranger. She had powered down, not having the strength to maintain her ranger suit. May was on the stretcher in the center of the back. She shrugged, and stumbled her way to check May's vitals. Bakaguru watched, he only had minimal medical training; 415 and Serena had better knowledge, 415 through her being…well, 415, and Serena's fighting style. She looked over May's body and nodded.

"Vitals are all normal," she verified. "But unless we get her some medical care for her injuries, I am unsure if she will hold up like this." She looked up, as if torn between something. "We need to get her on IV drip and serum when we get to your safe house."

Bakaguru nodded, then sat next to Serena. "I suppose you told her everything," he muttered and put his arm around her shoulder. "Our cover has been compromised, right?" Serena nodded. "I thought as much. Well, it's probably fine. Her parents are at the safe house, we gave them a rundown of what we've been doing since the Saffron City Contest. They are waiting for us to return, so we can make our next move. We must recover Sarah Birch from the Dark Gem Rangers, but first we must regroup before we can do anything."

Serena nodded, staring at May with little interest for what the otaku was saying. Bakaguru sighed and shoved his glasses back onto the rim of his nose before returning to the front of the car. Outside, two figures were approaching on foot, one in the arms of one of those runners. He pushed a button on the dashboard and the back opened up so they could get in. He heard them climb aboard, and shut the back. Judging from his rearview mirror, it was 415 and someone wearing a green Ranger uniform, probably Max. They were loading the Golden Ranger into the second stretcher. Once they had, 415 jumped back into the passenger seat and hit the dashboard.

"Drive," she said and Bakaguru backed up the car and hauled ass out of the warehouse district. "Head for my place, no one will follow us there."

"Who's following us?"

"That Dark Gem could be anywhere, and we have its partner in tow with us," explained 415. "Right now, it is unable to communicate, but I do not think he can power down like our Rangers. I am waiting for him to run out of energy before we do anything, but he seems harmless right now." She sighed and ruffled her hair, which was now long and green. "But Gold…"

"How is he?"

"Physically broken," she muttered. "His left shoulder will have to be completely amputated, it has suffered too much nerve damage to ever properly heal. He will have to have a transplant at PKM Headquarters and swap the damaged bone and tissue with mechanical parts." Bakaguru groaned.

"I hate having to give transplants," he muttered. "It takes a whole surgical team, one which we do not have time for right now. We'll have to find a temporary solution to that problem. What else?"

"Serena is not healed enough yet for actual combat. Currently it seems that Dark Emerald Ranger is our only operating ranger capable of taking on Sappho, but he seems far too weak to do much good on his own. His stats are significantly lower than the Golden Ranger, though they are roughly on par with Serena." She looked to the back. "I need to go back there and help. Can you find your way back to my apartment?"

Bakaguru grinned and pointed to a small device on the dashboard, a GPS navigator. "Never leave home without it, baby," he said with a smirk. "Get on back there, the team needs you." She nodded and headed to the back of the moving car. Bakaguru faced forward and kept driving.

In the back, Serena was leaning against the wall, her breath faint. "How are you doing?" asked 415, as she proceeded to inspect the injured.

"Been better," she admitted. "My body's still torn up from my fight with Sappho, but I'm better off than these two." She looked down to the unconscious body of May and 0's groaning mass.

"Have I mentioned how annoying I think you are, Agent 0?" asked 415 sarcastically, as she tore off his shirt to inspect his shoulder further. As she thought, the bone was shattered into far too many pieces to count, most of it was probably dust. In addition to this, the tears in the muscle were too extreme to heal. There was another, much less severe, hole in his midsection, which had already clotted and was doing fine on its own. It would only require some bandages and rubbing alcohol to make sure that it didn't get infected.

"How is he?" Serena asked.

"Hey…doc…?" wheezed 0, and he glanced up at 415. "What's…prog…nosis?"

She sighed. "You require an amputation. The bone in your shoulder has been completely destroyed. We will have to replace the entire shoulder with a bionic implant."

"…Arm?"

"Your arm is fine, it will connect with wires to make sure that it remains functioning." 415 watched 0 struggle with his pain, he had been ignoring it during the entire battle with Max and the subsequent brawl with Sappho, but pain had to come out sometime. "If it was anyone else, they would already be dead from the blood loss and pain. But, since you are too stubborn for that, we will have to make an exception as always."

"Always…am…"

"Can't you put him on some painkillers or something?" Serena ordered.

415 shook her head. "Too risky right now, he is in an unstable condition and in shock. The serum he uses has finally caught up with him, if we put him on painkillers there's a good chance his body will reject the medicine and he will fall into a catatonic state. The most I can give him is a local anesthetic." She pulled out a needle from a nearby first aid box and dug it into 0's shoulder. "That is all we can do for now. The rest will be determined by us when we arrive at the safe house."

"What about her?" Serena glanced to May, whose body had developed some heavy bruising.

"Fine," 415 answered. "The injuries she sustained were severe, but she will make a full recovery. She will be conscious within the hour."

"That's good," murmured Serena.

"Is something wrong?"

"I couldn't help him," she explained. "I've gotten all this training, I'm the senior ranger, he's my commanding officer, and I still couldn't do anything. I'm the top technical ranger. I should have been able to beat Sappho on my own, but I couldn't. I couldn't even lay a scratch on him…and now he outclasses both him and me." She looked up and in her grey eyes tears were beginning to form. "I'm useless, aren't I?"

"…3," groaned 0. With his good arm he struggled to reach her. Serena clasped hers around his. "Re-lax… Gotta…rest up-for the next round." Twisting his neck, he looked to Max, who had not moved or spoken since he had sat down next to his sister. "Max-can you power down-? Kinda creeping everyone…out…"

The Dark Emerald Ranger looked towards 0 and nodded with a growl. He pressed his gauntlet against the Dark Emerald and his chains faded away into Max Birch, who gasped suddenly when he regained control. He looked around, as if getting used to being in primary control again. "You okay, 0?" he asked.

"Never better," grunted the Golden Ranger. He tried to laugh but it hurt his shoulder too much, even with the anesthetic.

"You silly fool," Serena mumbled and pressed his good left hand into her face. "You're not going to have a round two for a while. Your body's been too damaged to fight, just like me…"

"The hell it is," he retorted. "415 will do my surgery and I'll be as good as new, maybe better."

He glanced over to May, then to 415. "How long will the surgery take?"

"At PKM, it will take-"

"No time."

"What?"

"We don't have time to get me to PKM Headquarters," grumbled 0. "How long with the transplant take at the safe house?"

415 was quite shocked at the absurdity of his demand. "Are you crazy?"

"Apparently."

"The surgery alone requires a team to excise the damaged muscle and bone, and a full mechanical transplant grafted to the exact specifications of your shoulder. It could take days to do it at PKM, maybe a week on our own! This is ludicrous!"

"Guess again," 0 coughed. "Take specifications of my shoulder, that'll take a minute. E-mail them to PKM, and have them make the shoulder there. While they make the graft…remove the shoulder…and have them-teleport… Take one or two days, tops." He shut his eyes and grinned. "If anyone can do it, it'll be us." The lines on his face smoothed and he stopped talking.

"What's wrong with him?" Serena demanded and bent over him to check the Golden Ranger's pulse.

"Just resting his eyes," 415 decided. "Still awake, though. Now then, I think we should handle our target." The agent gave 0 one last look over, then turned her attention to May, who was still knocked out. She felt the head. "Some light trauma here, maybe a concussion. I will perform an MRI to make sure nothing's wrong." She grabbed another syringe. "We should wake her up."

"Wait," Max said. "You're going to wake her up here? Now?"

415 nodded. "It is our best option right now, Dark Gem. Your sister needs to wake up so we can determine the extent of her injuries and we can treat her. Besides, it will be easier to wake her up here than when we get to the safe house. She needs to know what has happened and if she is handled improperly she could go into a state of shock." Max, after hearing this, took his sister's hand and nodded.

"Do it," he muttered. 415 wasted no time and plunged the syringe full of wake-up drugs into the woman. After about a minute, May opened her eyes and sat up groaning.

"It is a side-effect of the drug: a mild headache," 415 murmured and began her inspection. "How are you feeling?"

May looked around. "Where am I?" she asked, quite worried. "Where's-"

"You're safe, May," Max replied. May swerved around and there Max was, a goofy smile on his face as he waved at her. "We rescued you."

"We?" It was all too confusing for May, who was being inspected by 415, a woman she had never seen before, who was looking at her brother who had been abducted and was now being told she had been rescued from the clutches of the evil ranger who had taken her hostage from the Golden Ranger, who was really Keean Toby. The car shifted and her stretcher bumped against the one next to her, which had upon it the Golden Ranger himself, quite unable to move.

"What happened to him?" she asked in horror. Her protector looked like he was on the brink of death.

"Hey…don't talk about me like I can't here ya, May," groaned 0. "It's rude."

May was startled that the piece of meat that vaguely resembled Keean Toby could even speak after the blood loss he had to have suffered. Even now it was dripping from his ruined shoulder into a small puddle on the ground. "W-what's going on? Serena? Max?" She looked from one to the other, Serena looked like she herself was about ready to faint, her face was white from exhaustion and Max looked quite confused himself.

"My designation is Agent 415," said the operative, finally tired of the silence and dialog. "I am an intelligence officer and mole assigned to Petalburg City by PKM, an anti-terrorist organization, and the operative assigned to your case, May Birch. We rescued you and Agent 3, Serena Brine, from the Dark Sapphire Ranger when the Golden Ranger and Dark Emerald Ranger went in to find you."

May blinked. "Y-you all saved me?" she asked.

415 nodded. "We have been assigned to you since the event in Saffron City, when you were specifically targeted by an unknown terrorist group, recently identified as the Dark Gem Rangers. They want you for an unknown reason and we are taking you into protective custody for your own safety along with your family. Unfortunately…"

"What?" May asked. "What's 'unfortunate'?"

415 hesitated before she replied. "One member of your family is unaccounted for. We are moving to a safe house to decide our next move. Your parents are waiting for you there."

May's eyes widened. "Oh no," she murmured. "Sarah?"

The operative did not reply, May's maternal instincts were probably kicking into overdrive, and it was not something she was prepared to deal with. May felt someone grab her hand, and squeeze it. It wasn't Max, who was on her other side, but the injured Agent 0 who had moved to touch her.

"Keean…?" she asked.

"She's alive," he mumbled. "Sappho-he told me-he was going to see her. They will keep her…alive…until they get me. She's bait to make sure we…come…"

"Bait?"

"Sarah Birch's kidnapping is believed right now to be a ploy to lure us out now that our resources are compromised," 415 explained. "We are waiting for further information, but we are operating under the assumption that she is alive."

But May wasn't paying attention to what 415 was saying. Instead, almost all of her attention was focused on the hand that was curled around hers, the one that looked like raw meat. "Keean," she murmured. "What's going on?"

0 laughed and blood splat out from his lips. "Don't know, May. Soon as I find out, I'll let you know. Just relax, though. Really makes things cramped back here when everyone's tense."

"Stop talking," Serena grumbled. "You're wasting what little time you have left babbling. We need you alive if you want to do that transplant now."

"Oh yeah," 0 muttered. "Forgot…"

415, having had enough of the conversation and after determining that May was indeed okay, decided that she wanted nothing more to return to where Bakaguru was, as the otaku at least knew when to shut up. She sat down in the passenger seat and harrumphed thoroughly before buckling the seat belt.

"How's everyone doing?" he asked.

"Everyone's alive," she replied. "For now."

Bakaguru nodded. "Well, we're here," he muttered and turned into the safe house's parking lot. "Let's see if we can't find a more permanent designation for everyone's survival stats, shall we?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

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"Norman and Caroline Birch," said Bakaguru, "thank you for agreeing to come with us. With your help, we might be able to reach an understanding on the situation we have found ourselves on."

The conference room, which was in reality 415's very messy living room, had very little in the way of things to sit on. There was a couch, which the Birch family was currently occupying, huddling together. 415 was elsewhere, probably making preparations for 0's surgery, while Serena had called the swirling chair near 415's work desk. Bakaguru himself stood in the center of this very cramped room, trying very much to sound professional in front of people who had no idea who he was or what he was attempting to explain to them.

"So," replied Norman, "what are you going to do?"

"An excellent question," answered Bakaguru. "Have you had the chance to read through the documents I provided you with when we brought you here?" Both Norman and Caroline nodded. "We have been protecting your family, in particular your daughter May Birch, for quite some time. Or, rather, our rangers have been protecting her." He gestured to Serena, who waved her right hand to display her morpher. "This is our White Ranger, Serena Brine. She is one of our two-man team."

"And the other…is the man you had to carry in, right?" Caroline asked. She had been watching when the stretcher with the giant man had been brought past them to the bedroom, where he still was presumably.

"His name is classified," explained Bakaguru, "but he is known to you as Keean Toby. He is our Golden Ranger and the most powerful individual PKM could provide to protect your daughter." He turned to May and pushed his glasses back to the brim of his nose. "I am sorry that we caused all of this to happen to your family, but we had the best intentions at heart."

May nodded. "I-I know that you did," she said. Her eyes were on the floor.

"What are you going to do about our granddaughter?" Caroline wondered.

"Sarah Birch is not our target, your daughter is," Bakaguru said. "Nevertheless, we have extended protection to your entire family, so a rescue attempt will be made to bring Sarah back unharmed. We are scanning all police, traffic, and satellite information with every resource at PKM's disposal to track down the individual who took her. A rescue operation will commence once we are certain of her location, made by a three ranger team consisting of the Golden Ranger leading, with the White and Dark Emerald Rangers acting as backup. Agent 415 and I will be acting as support to give them all the advantages we can muster against this enemy."

Max nodded. His hand was on the Dark Emerald on his neck, he was eager to use it again. "Originally," continued Bakaguru, "it was not our intention to include the Dark Emerald Ranger in this plan, but as long as Max Birch is capable of harnessing the Dark Gem against the Dark Sapphire Ranger, we would be fools to not utilize such a useful resource."

"Are there any more rangers that can help?" Max asked. "I know about Gold and White, but shouldn't there be three others?"

"There are only two other operating PKM Rangers," Bakaguru replied. "Both Agents 1 and 5 will be unable to assist us on this operation. We are, as they say, on our own for this one. It was all I could do to make sure accommodations for 0 were made at the pace they are being done at."

"He looks to be in bad shape," Norman pointed out. "How can he help?"

"He will have to undergo a transplant before he can fight, true," the otaku admitted, "but if there is a singular individual that this mission cannot be without, it would be the Golden Ranger. His recovery is essential right now to our success. Right now 415 is probably making preparations for his surgery." He pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose again. "Make no mistake, sir. We are not wasting time here. We must be ready immediately."

Bakaguru turned to Serena. "415 will be needing help with the transplant. Go see that she gets it." The White Ranger nodded and left the room, heading down the corridor towards the bedroom/operating room. After a few moments, Max got up to follow, but was grabbed by Bakaguru. "What are you doing?"

Max shrugged. "Gotta do something, might as well go help," he said. "I can't sit around and do nothing. Besides, I can try and help 0 with my Dark Emerald. It heals wounds. I mean, I had a gash in my forehead a while ago." He tapped his skull, it was perfect. "Maybe it can help deal with his pain."

The otaku shook his head. "The Dark Gems will not work for anyone other than their contractors. That Dark Emerald keeps you alive because you are both symbiotically connected to one another. It will not help anyone else." He released Max, and pointed to his family. "They need you right now. Your family's world has been thrown upside down. Show some support. We will tend to 0. He is part of our family."

Max glanced at the engineer, then to his family. "Take good care of him," he whispered to the engineer. "He used to be part of ours." Bakaguru's eyes widened, but he said nothing to the Gym Leader as he turned to go and assist in the operation.

Bakaguru entered the bedroom, which had been converted into a hospital bed for the Golden Ranger's operation. The pillows and sheets had been stripped away, placed on the floor to stop blood from ruining the floorboards. 415 had already begun, it looked very gruesome to the engineer, who was quite glad he had not eaten before arriving. 0's shoulder resembled raw meat, and the instrument that 415 was using to excise the dead muscle resembled a chainsaw/scalpel. Bit by bit, 0's shoulder came apart in manageable chunks. All the while, Serena was there providing the Golden Ranger moral support through the ordeal.

"How is it proceeding?" Bakaguru asked, staring at the surgeon. She wiped her brow and shrugged.

"The muscle is coming apart well," she replied. "Subject is stable and responding well to serum injections every ten minutes to maintain enough bodily fluids, and painkillers are keeping him conscious and numb at the same time. Detailed blueprints for the mechanical transplant have been sent, and progress is being made in R&D that suggest work will be completed faster than expected."

"Would you…please stop…talking like I'm not…here?" 0 inquired, his voice suggesting that he was in an extraordinary amount of pain. "Not a piece of meat."

"Quiet you," ordered 415. "Removing the bone now."

0's shoulder was gone, the only thing remaining was the shoulder blade and pieces connecting the left arm to the chest. 415 polished off her hacksaw, or a high-tech equivalent, and looked at 0. "You sure about this?" she asked. "My apartment is not a sterile environment, you will most likely contract an infection from the wound alone, and the transplant is unprepared."

0 grunted. "Shut up and finish it," he gasped, straining as very best he could to ignore the pain the tranquilizers couldn't block out. "Besides, I know that you have something that'll help me. You always have something up your sleeve."

415 smirked. "And what if I did not?" she asked him sarcastically, then looked to the White Ranger. "Serena, please go to my kitchen and get a device that looks like a coffee maker. When you find it, bring it here."

The White Ranger nodded. "Of course, but what does it do?"

"It is a static field generator," 415 replied. "It is used by intelligence officers for emergency cases when our identity becomes compromised. It operates like a Poke Ball, only larger to fit a human. It is the closest thing I have to a life-support system for him." She glanced down to 0, whose breath was getting harsher. "It has systems so that it will keep the body alive under any circumstances. We will have 0 evoke a transformation to Rio Form, and use Endure. We will then freeze him in that state until the transplant comes and we can finish."

Serena rushed out of the room and Bakaguru leapt up to take her place. "I'll hold him down," said Bakaguru and gripped the left side of the Golden Ranger's body. "I'm sorry, 0."

"D-do it."

415 sawed off the bones, making certain that not a single piece remained from the excised portion. After several minutes, it was done, and Serena returned with the white, coffee maker-looking device. 0's left shoulder was completely gone down to the middle of his chest, and hardly anything connected the arm to the body anymore. Just a few pieces of skin were left. "Hand me the generator," 415 ordered. "He needs to transform now."

As 0 lacked the strength to even lift his morpher to his lips, it was Bakaguru who grabbed the right hand and moved it. Struggling to breathe from pain, 0 whimpered, "_Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power_," to activate the voice confirmation. Serena took the blue Poke Ball from 0's belt and placed it into the morpher as he transformed. "Rio F-Form. Synchronization D-Drive- E-Endure." The hue of light surrounded him and 415 activated the generator over his body.

0's strength was so severely damaged that the Golden Ranger uniform did not even manifest itself properly. Pieces of it were summoned, like the right half and lower portions of the chest plate, the boots but not the right legging, and only the right arm was covered. His helmet was non-existent, and the Arm Boosters were fragmented. Nonetheless, he succeeded and the generator flipped on, surrounding the Golden Ranger in a bright, crimson light, before suspending itself two inches over his body and hovering just above his midsection, humming lightly to itself as it began to freeze 0's body in time.

"Normally," explained 415, "the generator takes in its user and rockets them back to PKM. Unfortunately, since we would not be able to get him back for any length of time, he has to stay here, and the energy he will consume from the machine is too much to treat him internally. Fortunately, due to my genius, he will remain unresponsive but alive outside the machine."

Serena looked at the generator in wonder. "Is he awake?"

"Yes and no," Bakaguru replied. "I designed this machine with my assistants. He is awake, but he cannot hear us. During the days it will take for him to receive the transplant, it will seem like only an instant. Quite a good job, 415, adapting my technology like that. Perhaps we will be able to transfer you to R&D instead."

415 shook her head. "I have only one transfer I want," she muttered and left the room. Bakaguru and Serena were left staring at the glowing body of the Golden Ranger. Finally, Serena turned to Bakaguru and sighed.

"Is…is he going to be okay?" she asked.

Bakaguru shrugged. "He's a hard man to kill. Don't count him out until the fat lady sings, okay Serena?"

She leaned against him and he put his arm around her. "Am I useless, Bakaguru?" she asked. "My stats aren't anywhere near his. All I'm good for is getting hurt."

The engineer chuckled. "Without you, I don't think 0 would be the person he is, Serena," he said. "Keep in mind that if you hadn't gotten hurt, we wouldn't have the blueprints to Codename Ailed and 0 wouldn't have the Synchronization Drive. In fact, one might go so far to say that you are one of the very few people that the Golden Ranger would sacrifice his shoulder for."

Serena shook her head. "He did it for her, not for me, Bakaguru. And now, he's doing it again." Her eyes traced the giant hole that now adorned the left shoulder and shook her head. "How much more does he have to sacrifice for her? He's sacrificed his life, his name, now his shoulder, all because of her. I…and I hate her for that."

The otaku nodded and allowed the girl to cry on his shoulder. "Serena, I understand very little the inner workings of the Golden Ranger's mind, but I do know that he does very little he does not want to do. We forced him to become an agent, yes, but he made the choice to become a Ranger. You Serena, were born into this life. He could have lived a happy life outside our world. But he made his own choice, and that must be respected."

The door creaked open, and the agents turned to see that May Birch was standing behind it, listening in on their conversation. Wordlessly, she walked into the room, where she stopped just in front of 0's bedside. Serena wouldn't have thought her to have the stomach to handle looking at the Golden Ranger as he was, but somehow she did. Her eyes stole across his ruined body to the gaping piece of shoulder that was missing, in addition to the barely-morphed clothing.

She looked at the pair and the White Ranger saw tears in her eyes. "C-can I talk to you alone please?" May asked her. Bakaguru didn't like the sound of that and began to interject, but Serena held up a hand and he fell silent.

"It's fine," the ranger said. The engineer nodded respectfully and retreated for the other room, hoping the Birches were doing better. Serena shut the door and walked over to May. "What do you want? He needs to be left alone right now."

"What were you saying earlier?" May asked. "Something about everything wrong with Mr. Toby being my fault." She looked at the Golden Ranger again. "What did I ever do to him? I…I don't even know who he is anymore." She lowered her face, holding the sides of her head. "Who is he?"

"His identity is classified," answered the White Ranger. "I can't tell you." _And I don't want to._ She would not allow May the chance to ruin 0's life a second time.

"Please," she whispered. "I need to know. This man has been hurt so badly, all because of me." She was begging, her desperation was reaching the extreme. "All he has done is fight for me, protect my family, and now look what's happened to him." She grabbed Serena's hands and even the White Ranger was moved by her urgency. "Please."

Serena sighed. "I don't think you understand, May," she replied. "I mean I can't tell you. The identity of the Golden Ranger before his service is sealed forever, because of protection regarding any living family or friends he might still have. We've made an exception for you in even telling you my name."

But she refused to let go. "Please, Serena."

Serena glanced at May's hand. In the right index finger was a golden ring, one that looked so much like one she had seen before. "May," she said, "why are you wearing a wedding ring?"

May retracted her hands, and rubbed the golden band with her left hand. "It's a nervous reflex," she explained. "I-I used to be married and sometimes I like to wear the ring. It's a weird habit."

"Can I see it?" Serena wondered. May, after a moment, nodded and took it off to give to the White Ranger. She looked it over…it was truly a piece of art. But Serena knew where to look, and checked the inside of the band, where, sure enough, she found an inscription. "_A&M- Forever..._ What does that mean?"

May blushed. "My ex-husband and I got matching rings, one with a half of a message written in it. The whole thing reads '_Forever and a Day_'. Looking back on it, the whole idea was stupid."

"Why?"

In response, May lifted her left hand, with the empty ring finger wiggling. "Oh, well."

Serena thought it over. What she was considering was quite against the rules of PKM protocol and at the same time it wasn't. "May," she decided, "there's a way to ID the Golden Ranger without being told his name. Do you really want to know who he is?"

She nodded. "I need to. He…I just want to know. Whoever he is, a criminal, a fighter, a trainer, it doesn't matter to me. I just want to know him." Serena sighed and remembered the proverb that people should be careful for what they wish for. She led May to the side of the bed and pointed to a portion of his exposed chest.

"What does that look like to you?" she asked. She was pointing to the chain that was still exposed on a piece of the Golden Ranger uniform, with the gold ring that was attached.

"It looks like…another wedding ring?" May guessed and Serena nodded.

"Agent 0 was once a married man. His connections were severed by our organization on the advice of his predecessor, the former Golden Ranger. After that, he had to undergo extensive physical and mental training to prevent anyone from recognizing him in his new identity as a full PKM Agent." She stopped and indicated that May should look closer. "There's always been an inscription, I guess 0 wanted to keep some piece of his former life with him. Want to read it?"

Unsure of what this had to do with 0's identity, May looked closer, passed the generator that was keeping the Golden Ranger suspended in time. She couldn't touch him, the force-field generated by the machine prohibited such contact. She had to squint but eventually she saw the lettering, and her eyes grew wide when she read it.

_ A&M- …And A Day._

"Oh no," whispered May. "This is-this can't be!"

"Careful what you wish for, May Birch," whispered Serena Brine, as she left the room.

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It was three days before preparations were complete for 0's transplant.

In all those three days, May Birch remained in the operating room, never once leaving, except for essential purposes like food and the bathroom. Even Serena was puzzled by the reaction the woman had undergone. And she refused to speak even to her mother and father, no…she just kept watching the battered form of the Golden Ranger through 415's portable generator. Each time Serena would come into the room to visit with 0 by herself, May was always there, making true intimacy with her partner impossible.

"What's she doing?" Serena asked Bakaguru. She had just left a tray of food for May to eat and left her and the Golden Ranger alone again. Bakaguru had been working with his team each day, and was taking a break from designing the new shoulder.

"Maybe she's trying to find the button that euthanizes 0," he suggested. He had gotten very little sleep in the past few days, so his normally happy demeanor had long since evaporated. "Or maybe she's trying to release him from the field so she can shout at him?"

"Really?" Serena hadn't gotten that vibe from May, the woman looked more like she was at the funeral of a loved one than on a mission of vengeance. "Why would she want to do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Bakaguru snorted. "She's just been told, after you were given explicit instructions to not tell her, that her entire viewpoint of her life has been turned upside down."

"What?"

"I think I can explain." Serena turned around, Max was leaning on a nearby wall. Over the past few days he'd been a great comfort to both his parents and the Agents, and had been working hard with 415 to track down Sarah, since his Dark Emerald allowed him extra energy that needed expending. "My sister has always been a very…shall we say caring person. Not to me, or not in any way she'd ever admit, but she cares a lot about people. She's got natural maternal instincts. In fact, I'd say that's what first got her interested in Pokemon, the chance to raise things. So, when Sarah was born, she filled in the role perfectly."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Serena asked.

"I was there, when she threw out 0," he answered. "For a couple of days, I thought she was going to kill herself from the stress of having forced him out. It went completely against her nature, I still don't even know the reason why she threw him out. She never talks about it, see." He jerked his thumb over to the door and, although he couldn't see May, he was pretty sure of what she was doing. "Right now, she's trying to sort through her feelings. First she throws out the love of her life, and suddenly he's back and he's been protecting her without trying to hurt her. How would you feel, if someone you loved walked back into your life and you completely missed why you threw him out in the first place?"

"You're quite the philosopher, Max," muttered Bakaguru. "Now get me some coffee. Jessie and James need the final bone analysis of 0's shoulder and we'll be ready to transport and do the operation. They're such good builders, 0 will hardly notice it's a replacement."

Max blushed and nodded. "Coming right up." He turned and headed into the kitchen, where his parents probably were, nervously picking at what little 415 had to eat in the cupboards.

"He's got a point," mumbled Serena and she slumped down on the ground next to Bakaguru's work station. "Think they'll get back together?"

"Even if they did, it wouldn't matter," replied the engineer. "0 is still bound by his code of service and the Golden Ranger will not break that. He cannot be engaged in a relationship with someone who can compromise his identity."

"But she can't," the White Ranger said. "She already knows it, and we'll be protecting her once she's transferred to protective custody, won't we? He can have his family back again." She was very depressed, Bakaguru could tell from her dejected eyes and her terrible posture.

"This isn't a sitcom, Serena," answered Bakaguru. "Just because he can doesn't mean he will. Relationships are difficult, they break down at the slightest glitch. Neither of them are the same people they fell in love with. May is no longer May, and 0 has changed completely. No, a storybook ending does not exist without hard work and dedication."

Bakaguru was a very cynical man, and understood little of the concepts of love. He viewed it as an emotion that he would not have time for in the many, many years left he had yet to live. And the fact that he was lecturing someone at least ten years his junior about a subject he knew nothing about made the concept even more laughable. He was a PKM Agent. And agents lived and died alone, without any outside contacts. That was the rule of the organization.

"Go get some sleep," ordered Bakaguru, who could sniff the arrival of his coffee and hear Max's footsteps. "You are useless languishing." The Dark Emerald Ranger handed him his coffee and he returned to work, barking orders to a trio of workers on the webcam in his computer.

Even if Serena took his advice, it wouldn't do any good. She had tried to sleep, it was impossible with the situation being what it was. 415 hadn't slept, though with that woman Serena never could tell. Maybe she was on the same drug 0 was, Serena thought, as she headed into the bedroom. After all, she had to wait for the transplant to be done and she could think of nothing better to do than break May's solitary guard over the Golden Ranger. She sat down in the corner. May did not notice her.

Or so she thought. After about ten minutes, during which time Serena was actually working in the general direction of a nap, the coordinator turned to Serena. Barely awake, the White Ranger blinked herself back to consciousness, as it seemed May had something to say.

"What's…he like?" she asked.

Serena shrugged. "Don't you know? I mean, you did marry him, so you've got to have some idea of what he's like."

"N-no," May stammered, apparently quite flustered. "It's just…it's just that he's changed so much. I mean, I didn't even recognize him! How did the man I threw out become my and my daughter's hero? How could he, after what we went through?"

Again, Serena shrugged. "I think he's thick-headed, but that's just me. And our group. And basically everyone he's ever met. But he's a good guy. Do you know how he even became a ranger?" May shook her head. "He became one because you and Sarah were in danger. I watched the tape, he transformed only when he was certain that you needed his help. He didn't even want to become a ranger until he needed to save you."

"He didn't?" May asked. "Why not?"

"Ask him when he wakes up," she replied. "Something tells me he'd rather talk to you himself than have his past revealed by me. He's wanted to, for a long time now."

The generator hummed softly for a long time, both women were silent. The man that both loved laid there, barely battling death thanks to 415's ingenuity. Finally, May said it: "Is he in love with you?"

This was unexpected, and unusual. While they both knew that they each loved the Golden Ranger, in some way or another, 0's feelings were an entirely different matter. On one hand, his inability to focus when it came to May, his utter devotion to her safety, might make it seem that he was still completely in love with his former wife. But, Serena knew him better now, she was his best friend, his closest friend, and the two shared a special bond that came from looking out for each other, keeping one another's secrets.

"I don't know who he's in love with," Serena admitted. "He keeps that to himself, or he tells Pi."

"Pi?"

"Each Ranger requires an AI to operate the Ranger System we use when we fight," explained Serena. "The Golden Ranger's AI is Pi, a Pikachu."

"A Pikachu…" murmured May. "I remember Pikachu. It was such a powerful Pokemon. They were best friends, all this time he was alone, weren't they?"

"He wasn't alone," Serena retorted. "He had me."

The operation began roughly two hours later, when Jessie and James had completed the transplant exactly to Bakaguru's specifications. 415 took the implant, which looked like a perfect replica of 0's shoulder, and placed it on a table near the bed. For some reason, the event had attracted the entire crowd of people crammed into 415's apartment. Even Norman and Caroline had decided to join the agents, May, and Max in watching 415 work.

"I will be removing 0 from life support," she announced, "For the time that it will require for me to implant the mechanical shoulder, he will be completely dependent on his own will to survive. Serena, Bakaguru, Max, you will restrain him while I implant the machine. This will hurt him to a very intense degree, so he will struggle when the piece connects himself."

All three nodded. Bakaguru grabbed 0's lower legs while Serena took the center of the body. Max, summoning additional strength from the Dark Emerald, grabbed 0's upper body and held it down. Of course, they were just getting in position, they couldn't touch 0 until the force-field was removed. 415, after conducting a final inspection, reached to the generator and, with a quick motion, shut it off and threw it aside.

0 reacted to being removed from the life support quite violently and started thrashing from the shock of being returned to life. "Golden Ranger," informed 415, "you have been restored to self-sustaining life functions. Please recompose yourself while we begin the transplant for your shoulder."

"E-easy-for-you t-to s-say," grunted 0, as he strained to stop his violent jerking. He looked down, and was terrified to see his own heart beating wildly inside what was left of the left side of his chest. It looked almost ready to burst. The implant, which looked a whole like his old shoulder, was placed in the vacant spot it would occupy by the intelligence officer and 0 noticed that the wires were moving on their own on the sides of the machine. "G-grea-t."

When 415 activated the bonding sequence, the Golden Ranger felt assured of his death. The pain, so much more intense than when Sappho had jammed his sword to destroy the tissue and muscle and bone, felt so unreal…like he was watching someone else get tortured for the entertainment of others. His heart felt like it was…fading away.

"He's seizing," announced someone above him. "CPR now!"

Something was pressing so rudely against his chest and air was being forced through his lungs, it tasted so nice and familiar. He felt something start to connect his chest to his left arm, a machine that beeped each time two pieces of blood vein were connected through pieces of wire, when the bone structure merged with the metal thanks to circuits designed to mimic bone cells and structure. But his heart was weakening. He could barely hear it anymore.

"Electroshock startup," ordered a female face above him. "All of the systems have been installed, his heart needs a jumpstart now or we're going to lose him." Suddenly, he was jolted with a good dose of electricity through his circulatory system. He hadn't been shocked since…no, he hadn't been shocked by Pi recently. Oh yeah, he thought, the Volt Tackles were annoying. His heart started beating faster, then eventually returned to its normal rhythm.

"He's back," said someone, someone particularly relieved.

0 opened his eyes, the room was so blurry he could hardly see. His body felt heavier, something was weighing down his shoulder. There were some figures in the room, he thought he saw Bakaguru smiling at him. Then something forced him down again, specifically a woman, who hugged him fiercely and pinned his arms to his sides.

"Get off," he mumbled, "get off me…I can't breathe…"

"You. Stupid. Fool." It was Serena holding him, he recognized the smell of her hair. "You ever do anything like this again, I'll kill you myself."

He chuckled, then coughed. The heavy machine that was his shoulder was making it hard for him to breathe. "I got it, 3," he grunted, "now get off me. The implant's really, really heavy. It's pressing on my lung."

"That's a normal side effect," explained Bakaguru. "The device is made from a fusion of metal and plastic. We designed it with the durability of steel, so it won't break as easily as your real shoulder, but with a plastic-quality so it can mimic the reflexes and muscle movement of a real body part. It's also designed so that if, for some reason, your shoulder is destroyed, it can be easily switched out now that the wires are connected to your vessels and muscles."

"Really?" 0 looked over his new shoulder, it seemed really nice, and the plastic looked exactly like his skin. He raised his hand and touched it, it even felt like real skin! "Well, it's heavy, but so are the Arm Boosters. I'll get used to it fast." His vision was getting better, he could see almost everyone in the room. Norman and Caroline were in the back, with looks of relief on their faces that the operation was a success. 415 looked pleased, but indifferent enough to maintain her composure, and Max was grinning broadly. Serena looked flustered beyond belief that she had reacted so strongly so 0 being alright.

Then he noticed the last person in the room, the woman who was fingering a golden ring on her index finger. "M-May Birch," he muttered and scratched his head. "How are you feeling?"

She didn't answer, so 0 glanced around the room. "Think you guys can give us a moment?" Serena looked like she would physically fight to be his first visitor, but upon coaxing from Bakaguru, she followed the rest of the group, shutting the door as she left the room. Almost certain that everyone was outside listening, but not particularly caring, the Golden Ranger gestured to a chair by the bed and May sat down next to him.

"I know," she said, confirming what 0 suspected from her behavior.

He sighed. "I figured as much," he muttered and lowered his head. "Who told you?"

"Serena did," she replied and fingered the ring nervously. "While you were out, we had a talk. She showed me…your ring." She glanced at the chain he was wearing and 0 suddenly noticed that his ranger uniform was still fragmented on his person.

"Power down," he ordered Pi and the rest of the uniform vanished, replaced with the civilian uniform. His crossed his legs and reclined in the bed. "Sorry you had to find out like this. If it's worth anything, I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Really? Somehow I doubt that."

"I requested the assignment in Saffron City so I could see Sarah," he explained, "not so I could bother you. When I became the Golden Ranger, I was given the task of keeping you safe. I tried to do that as best I could, and look what happened."

She kept fingering the ring. "So what happens now?"

"We'll probably track down Sappho soon, it's impossible to hide from PKM's resources. Once that happens, I will be sent in to distract the Dark Sapphire Ranger while Max and Serena go and retrieve Sarah." He looked up, and clenched his hands. "I'll probably die, but your daughter will live. Sappho will make sure I die this time, he hates making mistakes. Then, Max and Serena will look after you as a new team, Max will probably be brought in to PKM because of his Dark Gem. Then you, your daughter, and your parents will be given new identities until the crisis is over."

"You're going to die for her?"

He grinned. "That'd be the best retribution I can give you, May," he muttered. "You get your daughter back, I get to die, and life goes on just like it did before I ever came back." He shifted in the bed and got up, though it clearly looked like it hurt him to do so. He groaned and stumbled, but caught himself before he fell. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

"Where are you going?" she asked, she had gotten up when it looked like he was about to fall.

He turned around and flashed a grin. "Gotta get ready for my Deathday, May," he said. "When a ranger dies, there are preparations that need to be made. A new ranger needs to be selected, needs to be prepared, and needs to be given some very handy items." He opened the door and sighed. "I need to go get them from Bakaguru."

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"Now, now, Sarah, we've got to make you look pretty."

Sarah, tied to the chair, tried so desperately to squirm out of the restraints that the evil ranger had placed on her, but the ropes were so tight. She was sure that her wrists were raw, they hurt so much, and no matter how much she asked, Sappho wouldn't loosen them. Instead he just hummed to himself and set about the makeup he had been applying to the girl. Her lips were the brightest red, in hindsight Sappho wondered if he had perhaps used too much and made her look like a hooker. The blush had been smeared onto her cheeks and the cover up he had simply dumped onto whatever portion of her face he felt needed it, with little concern for the girl's well being.

"S-stop," she pleaded. "I want my Mommy."

"Ah…" murmured Sappho, "but I can't give you to your mother yet. I need you to do something for me." He put aside the blush and lipstick, and grabbed a bottle of mascara to make her eyelashes so beautiful… "I need you to bring the freaks to me." He chuckled and painted her eyes with enough mascara to make it look like she had two black eyes. "Perfect! You're ready for camera!"

He had dressed Sarah in a torn, tattered dress he had found from some tramp outside, after he had killed her, of course. He hadn't, however, harmed a single piece of hair on her delicate head, he couldn't afford to. What if PKM didn't take damaged goods? No, he couldn't risk that, he thought, as he mounted the terrible camcorder in front of the little girl.

"Okay, Sewwy," whispered the dark ranger, "I'm gonna turn this on, and you're gonna sit there and do nothing, unless I tell you to. Got it?"

"O-okay…" mumbled Sarah, quite frightened indeed.

Sappho chuckled, and turned on the camera, the red light flickering on. "Good evening, PKM Rangers!" he cackled theatrically, gesturing wildly with his hands. "It's me, the Dark Sapphire Ranger, here live from Petalburg!" He was having a great time acting for the camera, for he made sure to stay within the shot and hover around Sarah. "Tonight, I have a special guest with me! None other than Sarah Birch! Say hello to everyone, Sarah!"

"H-hello," she whispered.

"Can't hear you, Sarah!" screeched Sappho and he grabbed one of her pigtails. "Say hello to everyone!"

"Hello!" she screamed and shut her eyes. Sappho giggled and released her hair.

"Now, Sarah, what's the thing you want most in the world right now?" asked Sappho, his voice getting higher and higher with each word.

"I-I wanna see my Mommy," she answered.

"That's right!" announced Sappho, his hand raised as if he had discovered a national treasure. "So, PKM, how you gonna make sure she gets to see her momma again? I mean, she's so annoying, she keeps crying for some reason!" He laughed and put his hand on the little girl's head, rubbing her hair playfully. "In fact, I'm really thinking about killing her!"

Sarah whimpered, exactly what Sappho wanted. "But," he said, "I am merciful. I'm offering you all a trade, something I want for something you want! You want the little girl back, and I want to fight the paladin. Bring him to me for one, last fight, and I'll let you all try and hunt for the girl. That is, of course, if you can get to her before I kill the Golden Boy!" He howled with laughter and approached the camera, making sure his new horrifying face was the only thing the camera could capture. "Come whenever you like, but I'd expect you find a little girl corpse if you wait too long!" He turned around to Sarah. "Say 'Help me!' Sarah."

"Help me!" she screamed. He made sure the camera recorded the tears falling from her face.

"You heard the kid, PKM. Hurry up!"

And the tape ended. Now all Sappho had to do was deliver it.

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"How long do I have?"

Bakaguru, who was busy typing on the computer, grunted. "Don't speak like that, Gold, depression doesn't suit you well," the engineer answered, his gaze not wavering from the monitor.

"I'm not depressed, I'm just being practical," 0 said.

Bakaguru saved what he was working on and brought up a new file, one with charts and graphs. "Come here, then," he grunted. 0 sat down in the chair next to the otaku. "These charts are from the memory saved by your morpher during your fight with Shattered Form. The charts on the left, the ones in blue, are all the Dark Sapphire Ranger, while the ones in gold are you at your peak performances. Notice the differences."

"His are too high," muttered the Golden Ranger sadly. Bakaguru nodded.

"If you fight him again, in your current state, you will die," pronounced the otaku. "It is never a pleasant thing to hear, but nothing we have will compensate for his power. All we can hope for is that you can last long enough for Serena and Max to find Sarah Birch and escape." Bakaguru sighed, he hated having to give this kind of news. "0, I know what you're here for, and I've prepared them for you. As the former Golden Ranger did, you must give them to someone who can carry on the identity of the Golden Ranger." He opened his desk and retrieved the Golden Gauntlets. "Who will you give them to?"

"I don't suppose you'd accept them," 0 suggested and they both laughed.

"Please, Agent 0," Bakaguru murmured, "I am too old and too fat to fit in a spandex."

"I know who needs them," 0 decided.

"Norman? He's much, much too old."

"Not him. Can't give them to Max either, we don't know what'll happen if a Dark Gem Ranger fuses with full-powered PKM technology."

"And the Codename Ailed design will not be ready for some time."

0 got up. "I'll go give them now," he said.

"Wait," Bakaguru said, before the Golden Ranger could leave. "There's something else." The engineer got up, the Golden Ranger saw that something was in his hand. "While it's true I cannot upgrade you myself, there is one thing I was able to get you that might buy us some more time." He lifted up his hand and inside there was a Poke Ball. "Do you remember a Professor Gary Oak?"

0 nodded. Oak was an old rival of his, before PKM. He had kept a few tabs on him. Oak, after his grandfather had passed away, had inherited the mantle of Professor and gave out Pokemon to starting trainers in Pallet Town. He was also in charge of 0's old Pokemon, most of whom had been left behind when he had left home for the last time.

"I called him, posing as your publicist, and after showing a few fake credentials he supplied me with one Pokemon for you to use in your upcoming 'tournament'. He teleported it here and I've been waiting to give it to you," Bakaguru explained. "He told me that you refer to this Pokemon as 'Tork'."

0 took the ball from Bakaguru's hand and lifted it to his morpher. Instantly, the morpher analyzed the Pokemon and the red-and-white Poke Ball transformed into pure black, like how Lu's had become blue. "Tork…" whispered 0, as he put the ball away on his belt. "What's it for?"

The otaku smiled. "It's my understanding that your Auxiliary Pokemon System requires registered Pokemon to be used. I picked one with a little more defense so you can at least take Sappho's attacks. You'll last longer."

0 clasped the engineer's hand. "Thank you," he said, feeling much better about his upcoming fight. He turned and left, leaving Bakaguru with his hands on his shoulders and a grin on his face.

"Crazy kids," he mumbled, before resuming work. He needed to finish his battle preparations for the support and backup teams.

0 found her sitting out on the terrace, watching the sun go down. She was a redhead this time, with bright grey eyes, which made the Golden Ranger wonder if she wasn't just picking faces at random. He didn't sit down next to her, but waited for her to acknowledge him.

"How can I help you, Gold?" 415 asked. In one hand was a cigar, in the other a scotch on the rocks. She removed the smoke long enough to take a sip, seethed with pleasure, then resumed puffing smog into the air. "Busy."

"I need to give you something," he replied, and waved the gauntlets at her back.

She shrugged. "Why give them to me? I am uninterested. Perhaps they should go to May Birch, or her father instead."

He tossed them to her. "Just put them on and," he ordered. "I don't have time for this right now."

She glanced briefly at the gloves. "Why?"

"What do you mean why?" asked 0. "You know protocol, 415. Every ranger preparing for mortal conflict requires someone to transfer the morpher to. You're my backup."

"I know protocol, Golden Ranger," murmured 415, as she took another drink. "That does not mean I have to obey your every command. Agents have the right to refuse gauntlets if they choose. And I choose to refuse."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?" 415 mimicked him with a sarcastic tone. "I have any number of reasons not to listen to you." She threw him back the Golden Gauntlets, all without even looking at him.

"I'm going to die," said 0. "Does that mean nothing to you?"

She shook her head no. "Life will go on without you and the Golden Ranger tech, Agent 0. The world does not revolve around you."

That was it. Removing all restraint he had, he grabbed the fake face and pulled 415 to her feet. She did nothing to oppose him, but hung loosely in the air waiting for him do say what he wanted to say. "I am about to die for May's daughter. _My_ daughter, a girl who doesn't even know the meaning of the word 'father' or even where she came from. And when I'm gone, she'll never know who I was, or what I gave up to protect her. So don't you dare tell me no, and put on the damned gauntlets just like I had to. Understand me?"

With one sharp move, 415 swirled around and brought 0 to his knees in one painful sweep of her foot to the back of his knee. "Now you listen to me, you dead man," she whispered, "do not dare talk to me about suffering. You think you are the only one with an angst-filled past? You think yourself the only one who gave up something for this? Every one of us did, 0." She took his Golden Gauntlets and slipped them on before he had a chance to do anything. "You understand that?"

0 pushed her away and they both climbed to their feet, breathing hard from exhaustion. "You might be the Golden Ranger, 0," she muttered, "but you are nothing but another agent to me. Another agent that took what I wanted, and that will never change between us." She pointed to the door, the dark gauntlets she was wearing gleamed in the darkness of the night. "Now leave. You made me drop my smoke."

"Why do you hate me, 415?" asked the Golden Ranger.

"Because," she said and looked up at him with a truly hate-filled expression on her lips, "you remind me of _him_, and I will never forgive you for that."

0 walked out, unsure of what 415 meant by that comment. He pulled out the two Poke Balls and sighed. "Even with these, am I going to be able to stall long enough for 3 and Max to get Sarah?" He had to rescue his daughter, even if he didn't feel like she was his. Sarah was May's, and she always would be. But he would defend them both to the death, as long as they could be happy.

"0!" shouted Serena, from somewhere to his left. "We got something!"

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The video, while disturbing, gave Bakaguru all the remaining information required to complete his attack plan. Flanked by his ranger, the engineer gathered everyone into 415's living room. In front of him was a holographic monitor, displaying a small digital map of Petalburg City. He held a remote in his hand, and clicked the button on it. The readout zoomed in on a specific area in North Petalburg, around downtown.

"Thanks to PKM's spy technology, we have managed to pinpoint locations for both the Dark Sapphire Ranger and the target, Sarah Birch." Two apartment complexes appeared on the screen, one illuminated in blue and another in red. "The blue building is where Sappho is hiding out, while the red shows Sarah's location. As you can see, they are two blocks apart, which gives us a slim chance to complete our mission."

He pressed the button again and several directions began forming on the screen, a formulated battle plan of Bakaguru's operation. "We will be divided into three designations: Leading, Backup, and Support. Leading Team consists of a sole member, Agent 0." He glanced to the Golden Ranger, who nodded his agreement. "Agent 0 will begin his operation first and attack Sappho's stronghold. Once Sappho is engaged in battle and identified, Backup Team will begin their operation.

"Serena and Max, as Backup Team, will infiltrate downtown North Petalburg in civilian forms using disguises. Sappho will be prepared for us, but not disguises, he thinks we're too defenseless to send Leading Team as a sole unit rather than a trio. Once inside, transform into ranger uniforms and find Sarah. Your sole objective is to rescue the target and escape with her alive. Nothing else, understand?"

Both Max and Serena silently nodded.

"The remainder of us will be concentrated as Support Team, consisting of 415 and myself. The remaining members of the Birch family may help if they wish, but it will be Support Team's duty to monitor both operations. 415 will be monitoring Backup Team and I Leading Team. Are there any questions?" Bakaguru surveyed the room and found no objection to his plan, so he continued.

"There is a high mortality likelihood with Leading Team," finished the engineer. "In the event that Leading Team fails to stall for the required length of time, Backup Team is ordered to withdraw to prevent further casualties. 415 is advised to prepare to receive the Golden Ranger morpher. We will commence the operation shortly. Rangers are recommended to review their wills and testaments, and say their goodbyes."

0 wasted no time. He raised his morpher to his lips and pressed the trigger. "_Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power_." Golden pieces of armor surrounded him, clamping down on his body and uniting with dark fabric into the Golden Ranger. His head glowed, and his face vanished behind the visor and helmet that emerged. Norman and Caroline were quite impressed with the transformation, but it hardly garnered the focus of anyone else. "Ready, Bakaguru."

The otaku clasped his friend's arm. "Goodbye, comrade," he said. "Is the torch ready?" 0 nodded and glanced at 415.

"It'll be passed again," he confirmed. His boots clanking against the ground, he headed for the terrace. On his belt there were now two Poke Balls, one on each hip instead of one on the small of his back. "Pi, divert all support systems to the legs, I'll need it when we start jumping."

"Okay," the Pikachu said. 0 monitored the stat change and, upon completion, placed his left leg up on the railing and climbed up. Outside was the night city of Petalburg, the moon glittering in the sky. He opened his visor, just to feel the air of the world one last time against his face. It would probably be the last time he would feel it, so he wanted to enjoy it for once. "0, are you sure you're ready for this? I don't want Sarah to suffer, but I want to live too." The Pikachu's voice was tough, but saddened as well, for it knew that in the event 0 died it would perish along with its trainer.

"I don't want to die either," he answered and lowered his head. "But for Sarah, I'll give up my life. I did it once before, I can do it again."

"0."

The Golden Ranger glanced up, it wasn't his Pikachu who had spoken, it had been May, who stood just outside the terrace, arms folded on her lap. 0 turned around, crouching safely on the railing, and closed up his visor. "Yes?" he asked. He had really been hoping to not be disturbed before he left.

"Y-You didn't say goodbye to anyone," she explained as her excuse for following him outside.

"I was never good at doing that," he admitted. "Besides, I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me. You know how annoying it is for people to try and give goodbye speeches before every mission? Gets boring." His voice was harsh, he didn't want her to be the person he spoke to last.

She was fingering that ring again, she still had the nervous twitch he remembered from their marriage. "Are you going to die?" she asked.

0 leaned in close to her, so she could see her reflection in the golden visor. "Yes," he replied, matter-of-factly. "It's not the best option, but it's our only one to rescue your daughter." For some reason, she took a step forward and he hesitated. He swerved on the beam, his balance was a little off from the shoulder implant. "Do you really want to be the one who has to say goodbye to me for everyone?"

"No," she whispered and suddenly her arms were around him. It was not good for balance, and he nearly fell from the unexpected embrace. She was crying into his shoulder, the real one, the monitor on his visor told him part of his chest was damp. "I'm trying to tell you I want you to come back."

"What?" He wasn't even staring at her anymore, he was looking into the window of the apartment, seeing nothing, no one, as he focused all of his attention on that simple sentence. "Why do you want me to come back?"

"Because," she mumbled, then said something that 0, even with his suit's sensors, couldn't quite pick up.

"Sorry, couldn't hear that," he said. "Repeat, if you'd please."

She withdrew herself, just enough so that she could look him in the upside-down triangle that covered his face. "Because I want Sarah to know her father. Because someday she needs to know who he was, what he does, and I want her to hear it from him." She smiled as, in shock, 0's visor retracted into his helmet.

"Sarah…" he murmured. "I can meet her?"

"Come back alive and we'll see," she retorted. And leaning her head into the helmet, she pursed her lips and gave just the tiniest peck to 0's nose. The Golden Ranger jerked back, and almost lost his place on the scaffold. He regained his balance, almost at the cost of falling onto May.

"May," he muttered, "Thank you."

And he leapt up into the air, and was gone. May caught sight of his uniform as it cascaded through the air onto a rooftop across the street, and a strange machine that was materializing for him to streak atop the roofs towards the Dark Sapphire Ranger. It looked like a motorcycle, but May wasn't quite sure, it was too hard to tell from the distance.

And, as the Golden Ranger boarded the 0 Cycle, one thought prevailed through all others. It wasn't his impending death, it wasn't concern for his own safety, considering he was piloting a machine without breaks through the rooftops of Petalburg. No, it was a simple fantasy, one he had been cherishing for over three years.

_ I will survive. And, when I do, I'll finally get to meet my daughter._


	17. Morph 17

While the original message posted here is gone, I retain my thanks to **LuciferIX** for his constant support and his continuing contributions to the fan-fiction community here on this website. If you have ever received a review from him, always take his advice to heart as it's usually spot on. And now, back to _PKM Rangers_!

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**Morph Seventeen: Insanity's Requiem: Give Me the Strength to Protect!**

The Golden Ranger switched his visor to night vision. Wherever Sappho was, it seemed as if he was hoping for a home turf advantage. Not that 0 thought it was needed, Bakaguru had said that the Dark Sapphire Ranger had too high of stats to even require an advantage. 0 checked his stats, they were at full power thanks to the operation. He shifted his mechanical shoulder, it felt strange against his organic arm. "Pi," he muttered, "scan the complex for signs of life. He's got to be here somewhere."

"Okay," replied the Pikachu. Its icon on the visor's lower left hand corner switched to a tracking symbol, and before long a beeping issued to confirm the heartbeat. "Upper level, I'm picking up something on the second floor. Probably the target."

"Roger. You get that, 003?" asked 0 as he started for the stairs.

A new line of communications opened, belonging to his division of Support Team. "Copy that, 0," said Bakaguru. "I am downloading an estimate of the Dark Sapphire Ranger's stats into your Ranger Spirit's memory drive. Combined with Pi's intelligence systems, we should be able to track Sappho's statistical data during the course of your battle. We will also be using it as a chance to gather more data about the Dark Gem Rangers."

"So…you plan on using me as a data hunter for my last mission?" 0 asked sarcastically. He laughed and arrived on the second floor. Pi's tracking systems were picking up Sappho's presence behind a door. "Can't you think of anything better for me to do?"

Bakaguru's face appeared on the lower right hand corner of the visor. "Not really, Gold. Let's face it, you're not very important if you're thinking of dying this early."

That really made the Golden Ranger laugh. "I'd hate to cut the story short so soon," he chuckled and his hand reached out for the door handle. Behind the third door was the heartbeat, wild and rampant. It had to be the Dark Sapphire Ranger. Inside the door, he heard the quite clear sound of harsh breathing. "Let's start this off with a bang. Pi, download the Lightning Laser."

A golden light flashed in his right hand and the plasma shotgun appeared. He loaded it with a burst of electricity and fired at the door's hinges. It exploded, to say the least, sending pieces of wood scattering into the room. Shouldering the weapon, 0 swaggered through the door and saw the evil ranger waiting for him.

"Did anyone order a steaming pile of whoop-ass?" inquired the paladin and squared off against the Dark Sapphire Ranger. "If not, I can always come back later. I'm a laid-back kind of guy, after all." Sappho seemed unappreciative of his cocky arrogance, his self-centered way of announcing himself, for the evil ranger growled and pawed at the air.

"You talk big, Golden Boy," said Sappho, his voice as slimy as it was vile, "but in the end, it won't matter. I'll do to you just as much damage as I did to that traitor's Gallade. I'll squash your head, I'll drink your blood, I'll do all these terrible things to you. And, when you're dead, I'll have so much fun with your corpse it'll almost be so sad that you'll be dead!" He cackled, but this time his behavior did not so much scare the Golden Ranger as it did annoy him.

"Hey," 0 interjected, "not to be a busy-body, as I'm sure you have all sorts of things you'd like me to hear about what you intend to do with me when I'm dead, but can we get this along?" He checked his wrist-mounted morpher, as if consulting a clock. "I'm already late for a play date with my kid. And she gets real troublesome when she doesn't get what she wants." He was trying to be annoying, he had to keep Sappho where he was until he received confirmation that Sarah was safe and back at the house.

The Dark Sapphire Ranger pawed the earth, his claws scraping along the woodwork. "So," he hissed, lifting his glittering cowl to stare at the paladin, "you ready to die? Or are you just gonna keep me talking? That's only gonna make what I'll do to Sarah if I scrap you fast all the more sweeter." He lifted his claws to his mask, acting as if he were licking the blades complete with slurping noises. "Oh, we'll have a grand time."

0 lowered the Lightning Laser. "Let's dance. I'm getting tired of listening to your voice." He cocked the shotgun and pointed the barrel at his foe. "Got a new metal shoulder, got a new Pokemon, I think I can waltz with you."

"I lead," retorted Sappho and charged.

The two rangers rushed one another, the Golden Ranger wielding his gun as one would a broadsword and the Dark Sapphire Ranger with his claws outstretched. 0 fell forward, ducking into a short roll and butted Sappho right in the lower legs. The evil ranger shouted in surprise, but was too late to stop his momentum from sending him sprawling to the ground. Not missing a single beat, the paladin lifted his gun and let off two rounds right at his adversary's hindquarters. The powerful bolts didn't even phase Sappho, they bounced right off his shiny body and into the walls, frying the electrical system. The lights above them flickered, but almost reluctantly stayed on.

"Not bad," murmured Sappho as he leapt back up to his feet. "Too bad that attack's too weak to brush the dust off my shoulders." He turned around to face the Golden Ranger, who chuckled when Sappho faced him. "What're you laughing at?" In response, the Lightning Laser vanished from his arm and the Golden Ranger reached for a black Poke Ball on his belt.

"You know something," said 0. "You're right. I'm not as strong as you. I don't have the stats or the technology to even damage you, much less kill you, in the state I'm in right now." He lowered his visor, staring at the powerful weapon in his hand. "But I'm not here to kill you. It'd be a nice bonus, but all I'm here for is to protect Sarah Birch and stall my team enough time for them to get to her." He held up his morpher and it opened to allow him to slip in the black Poke Ball. "And if I can do that, it'll mean you lose, Sappho." He pressed the activation trigger on his morpher and waited for it to register the new Pokemon.

The morpher whirled and clicked as it scanned Tork, until finally it confirmed the new form. "_Pokemon Auxiliary System activated- Oal Form registered_," said the mysterious AI of the system. In 0's visor, the options menu displayed the forms of his Ranger System. A new one was being added right next to Rio Form. He selected it and his system began the downloading necessary to utilize the new form.

Oddly enough, the Dark Sapphire Ranger sat there and watched as the Golden Ranger began installing the new form, fascinated at what could possibly be enough to stop him. The armor began appearing around the Golden Ranger's body, layers of protective metal. With harsh clanks they clamped into place, binding to all the muscles and fabric that made up 0's uniform. The only portions it left unguarded were the joints, so that 0 could properly move about without having to trip over himself. In these joints, his costume underneath the thick hide of armor lit up gold, making it seem like veins were tracing his entire body. 0's body felt heavier, and so did his head when additional protection fastened itself around his visor and neck. The bottom half of his visor transformed, becoming as black as the rest of his helmet.

_ Finally, his chest and back were bare, but instead of additional armor materializing around it the fabric hardened into diamond hard pieces, exactly like a turtle's shell. As 0 glanced about his new form, he felt his mind adapting as he went under the influence of the new AI. He didn't want to fight, truly he didn't. No, not anymore. He just wanted to help, to do what he had to do make everyone happy. As Sappho tilted his head, curious at what had happened, the Golden Ranger's hatred, his distain, was drained, a calm, soothing desire of peace blossoming in its stead._

"_Turtle Defender- installed_," announced the deep voice of the AI.

He felt, but did not hear, Tork join him. Tork was so happy to see him, it might have brought tears to the Torkoal if it were not currently being used as an AI for the Golden Ranger. Both of them looked out at Sappho and 0 felt the fear that crept up his heavily plated shoulders at the evil ranger's appearance. Tork didn't want to fight that thing, it wanted to catch up with its trainer instead. But, when the Golden Ranger explained what was wrong and what they both needed to do. The feeling of fear did not disappear, but rather became subverted with courage.

"0," said Bakaguru, concerned as there had been no communication from the Golden Ranger since Oal Form went online. "Are you alright?"

The Golden Ranger nodded, he felt perfectly normal. For once, he wasn't angry or bitter at anything. Tork guided him to a place of tranquility where there was no need for such things. So, instead of looking at the Dark Sapphire Ranger as a threat, as someone that needed destroying at any cost, he saw a pained individual who needed help, someone who needed to be stopped before the madness and pain spread.

Suddenly, 0 felt that he could defeat Sappho.

He assumed a defensive position, wanting to test out the strength of his new armor. He put his faith in Tork, who in turn assured the Golden Ranger that turtle shell would be powerful enough to withstand anything if its user knew what to do. "What?" asked Sappho, very confused. "I'm not good enough for your taunts?" Inside, 0 smiled at that, he wasn't going to taunt because it was unnecessary. Why should he insult and say such verbal slang when he could prove his power another way?

"Screw this, I'm gonna kill ya!" screamed the Dark Sapphire Ranger.

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The two rangers passed through the shadows of downtown swiftly. They could not afford to stop, they were working on borrowed time after all. The car that Bakaguru had leant them, a meaningless pile of junk that barely moved without complaining, was getting them where they were going, but it wasn't willing to get them there quietly. It screeched and moaned all the way down to the apartment building that Sarah was being kept in. Serena parked the car at the front door and shut off the engine.

"You sure you're ready for this?" she asked Max. In the passenger seat, the man nodded, his hand wrapped tightly about the Dark Emerald on his chain.

"It doesn't matter if I'm not," the former Gym Leader replied. "My niece is in trouble. I have to be ready."

"Jeez…why do I keep getting all of these serious partners?" asked Serena to herself, stepping out of the car and shutting the door. "When we get in there, you follow my lead, understand? Don't do anything without my say-so."

Max followed her lead. "Got it, it's just that…"

"Just that…what?"

Max sighed. "When I change, my control's a little shaky," he explained. "If I get too out of control, you have to make sure that I don't hurt you or Sarah." He fingered the Dark Gem. "It keeps calling to me, it wants me to use it to hurt people that hurt Gallade. When I was with 0 I had enough control to follow his lead."

Serena stopped, just short before the door. "What does that mean?"

The man opened it for her. "It means you have to keep me under control. No matter what, you need to make sure I obey you. I can only do so much, the rest is up to who I'm with." She went inside and Max followed. "It's a sort of psychological thing. When I was with Sappho, his control over me was so strong, I still don't know how 0 managed to bring me back." He grinned. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I kidnapped you."

Serena battered her eyelashes. "I still haven't forgiven you," she shot back. "But maybe you'll get your chance tonight." She lifted her morpher to her wrist and called 415. "Hey, what's our best option for this thing?"

Max heard the transmission in the com-link he was wearing on his ear. "Morph now," ordered the intelligence officer. "We are seeing multiple amounts of Rangerlings on the floors above you, and factoring in the fact that Sarah is on the top floor, it would be best that you got a head start now."

"We won't be able to change upstairs," thought Max aloud. He heard an audible grunt on the com-link, as he had stated the quite blatantly obvious. "Sorry, I'm new at this."

"Agent 3, instruct your rookie on how we do things here at PKM." The link went dead and Serena giggled as she glanced at the new ranger.

"Oh, you're in trouble now…" she cackled. "415 hates new rangers. You should see how she deals with the Golden Ranger."

"Oh, we'll see about that," muttered Max. He grabbed the Dark Emerald and the chains wrapped around his arms and fastened themselves. "Shall we?"

Serena lifted her morpher to her lips. "You sure know how to treat a lady, Max," she said and pushed the activation trigger. "_PKM Spirit, Activate_!" The white light exploded from the morpher and her armor materialized around her. "Our first date and you're already treating me to a fight. You sure know how to make a girl feel special."

Max grinned, his eyes transforming from brown to dark green as the evil aura of his Dark Emerald surrounded him. He pressed the emerald into his flesh and announced, "_Dark Gem Ignite_!" His body flashed green and his Chained Form emerged from underneath his skin, his visor clamping down upon his face. The uniform glowed like emerald fire, but died out when Max took a deep breath to steady himself.

"You okay in there?" Serena asked.

He nodded. "_Gallade_," was his hoarse reply. Inwardly, Serena sighed at the fact that Max, while transformed, was unable to communicate without interference from his Dark Emerald, which happened to include speaking human language. "_Lade, Galla_," he growled and pointed to the stairs.

Serena looked at the stairs, then noticed the much-nicer elevator that was located right next to it. "Sorry, honey, but we're taking that one," she decided and started walking toward the elevator. But the Dark Emerald Ranger insisted and grabbed her arm to make certain that she didn't press any buttons. "Hey, get off me!" She shrugged him off, then pressed the button to summon the machine to take her up to the top floor. After all, it was better to go right for the top then battle through hordes of Rangerlings.

Max grabbed her and threw her behind him. She would have protested, but the dark ranger didn't give her enough time. She only had enough time to watch him turn around and shield her with his body.

_ BOOM._

It rained shrapnel around them as the elevator exploded. Serena covered her ears and heard a vast amount of grunts of pain coming from her partner. She looked up, it appeared as if Max was taking the blunt of attack for her. Finally, when the metal stopped hailing them, Max stood up, though it clearly pained him to do so. "_Lade…_" he grumbled and flexed his muscles. Pieces of metal and glass fell from his muscles bloodied and shattered, with several pieces still sticking in. He reached for them as he went to inspect the damage and tore several out of his back that hadn't become dislodged by movement.

Serena jumped back to her feet, heavily disoriented by the affair. "What…was that?" she asked, before joining him in front of what remained of the elevator shaft. She looked at her partner, whose chained hand was pointing at what looked like a party sign that had been draped on the ruined wall, shredded by still-legible by the explosion.

_ Welcome, PKM!_ read the sign.

"You…could smell the explosives?" she asked. The Dark Emerald Ranger nodded and she sighed. "I really wish you could talk."

A communications channel appeared on her visor. She opened it and it displayed the number 415. "This is Support Team," said the intelligence officer. "Are you all alright?"

"Yeah," answered the White Ranger. "Our new friend can apparently smell explosives. A booby trap failed."

"Keep in contact, over and out." The line cut dead.

Serena smiled under her visor, then looked towards the Dark Emerald Ranger. He was still staring at the exploded elevator. She noticed a piece of metal that was stuck in his back, where he couldn't reach. She grabbed it and yanked it out. He grunted and turned to her, confused. "There you go," she said and he growled appreciatively. "Hey, what do I call you anyway? We're supposed to use code names, but you don't have a numerical designation, since you're not a ranger with PKM."

He shrugged. "_Laaaaaade_," he growled to himself.

"Well…I guess we can use 'Lade' as your code name until we can get back to HQ," she considered. "Would that be okay?"

He nodded.

She pointed Max towards the door, where their only option for ascension lay. "You lead, Lade, and sniff out the traps," she ordered. The Dark Emerald Ranger nodded to his tamer and lumbered over to where she commanded, marching up the stairs like a guard dog. She followed him, downloading her Frost Fan into her hands so that she would be ready for the upcoming combat.

Surprisingly, the Rangerlings all waited for them to successfully climb the stairs before making their presence known. The hallway appeared quite quiet until they began creeping out of the woodwork and doors like a very disgusting Bug Pokemon infestation. Max looked out at the crowd and Serena heard his elongating chains clank to the ground as his low growl penetrated the eerie silence of the crowd.

"You feel like a tag team?" she asked.

He began chuckling, or what passed for chuckling from him, and nodded eagerly as he positioned himself in a crouching attack position, his fingertips barely scratching the floor. "_Laaaaade_," he snickered in anticipation.

The Rangerlings, after watching their existence suddenly become threatened, began jabbering amongst themselves in sharp, loud squeaks, like an unknown Pokemon language. Max wasted no time and smashed into the crowd with his chains, tying them up just long enough to squeeze them to death and shatter their Dark Onyxes to finish the job. Serena dove in right behind him, using her Frost Fan to destroy Rangerlings already ensnared by Max's chains, since she herself still wasn't quite up to her full power. She leapt through the crowd gracefully, blending Max's savage ferocity with dignity and beauty.

Before long, all of them were piles of dust on the floor. Max was still eager to fight, he kept panting and growling even when everything that he deemed a threat was a strangely-organized pile of dirt below him. Serena touched his arm and he relaxed, retracting his chains into his gauntlets. She pointed to the next flight of stairs leading upwards and he obeyed once more, climbing the stairs until he reached the second floor. He looked around, quite excited about the possibility of more Rangerlings to destroy, but inspection of the area showed that there were none on this floor.

"Better luck next time," Serena murmured sympathetically and patted his shoulder. "Maybe the next floor will let you vent a little." The Dark Emerald Ranger nodded and headed up to the third floor, whereupon he did meet someone to play with.

They came out of nowhere, just as Serena and Max managed to set foot on the floor. A machine gun being loaded alerted the superior senses of the Dark Emerald Ranger and he grabbed Serena again, only this time he used his weight to smash through a nearby apartment door before the bullets started ripping around them. Max grunted as one found a place in his right shoulder, but he managed to protect the White Ranger. Once he was certain that they weren't being followed by the gun, he checked himself over.

"Your shoulder's bleeding," his partner murmured and looked over the wound. "Doesn't look too deep though, I might be able to get it out." She was about to reach for it, but the dark ranger grabbed her hand and shook his head. He could do it himself.

He strained the muscles of his shoulder, calling on his Dark Emerald to remove the foreign contaminant from his body. After a few seconds, the slug emerged out of his body, clattered to the ground, and the hole sealed itself up. Serena touched the newly-healed wound, it seemed perfectly normal. "How did you do that?" she asked.

He shrugged, he just could. The bullets rattling around them brought the rangers back to reality and the Dark Emerald Ranger prepared to rush through the maelstrom towards the source and crush them. But Serena refused, even for someone who could regenerate such a plan was suicide.

"There's got to be another way," she told him. "These things are stupid, they can't think as well as we can."

Max nodded and, after a moment of thought, turned towards the wall. "_Laaaade_," he suggested, and elongated the chain in his right gauntlet. He smashed through the wall, it came apart easily, and worked his way through the brick and mortar into the next room. The Rangerling manning the machine gun, hearing the impromptu demolition, turned its gun's attention to the apartment rooms themselves instead of just the corridor. Serena, not wishing to be cut down by gunfire, followed her partner through the wall to the next apartment, where he was already busy destroying the next wall.

They worked their way through, the gun's blazing trail only instants behind them. Again and again Max smashed at the walls with all his strength, weakening pieces of the mortar with his chains before striking the brick directly with his gauntlets. His chains would then go through the hole and break apart the wall from the interior, just fast enough for Max and Serena to duck through without taking any stray bullets.

Finally, Max rammed through a room and wrapped one chain around a doorway, then crossed to the other side of the room and smashed through a piece of wall. Serena stood behind him, unsure of what he was doing. Once he was sure his chains were secure on both sides, he backed up a bit, tightening up both sides, and ran up and kicked the wall.

At this point, the walls were too weak to withstand much of anything from the machine gun. The wall came tumbling down, right onto the Rangerling that had been shooting them and destroyed the gun. The Dark Emerald Ranger hissed, inspecting the floor for further signs of a threat, before deciding there were none, and turned to Serena. He growled in a sort of reassuring way to inform her of the safety and she nodded as she got to her feet.

"Two more floors left," she gasped and glanced back at the destruction Max had caused in her expense. "Remind me never to get on your bad side, okay?"

Max snickered and led the way up to the fourth floor.

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The evil ranger hurled towards 0 wildly, his claws savaging anything within reach. 0 lifted an arm, and found it so natural that it moved so slowly, to block. The claws scraped the metal of the Turtle Defender, but did nothing to penetrate his forearm. Shaking his head, 0 grabbed the Dark Sapphire Ranger by the arm and used his superior weight to hurl him away into a nearby wall, where he crashed into the fireplace, as casually as he might toss in a log to a roasting fire. It did nothing to damage Sappho, but it certainly made 0 feel better. While part of him wanted to know if the evil ranger was alright, the other half was very pleased that Oal Form would be perfect for stalling his opponent.

Tork guided 0, using nothing but the casual hand of its emotions, and the two created a ballet between themselves and the Dark Sapphire Ranger. It was unbeatable strength against a rocky turtle shell, and neither knew which might come out victorious. While 0 was not as quick on his feet as he was in Rio Form, the relaxing echoes of the Torkoal kept him at a steady pace in rhythm with Sappho.

In the Golden Ranger's right hand the colossal Bolt Blade was downloaded, and again 0 marveled at its weightlessness. To his hands, bound and shielded by several layers of armor, the sword almost didn't exist, if it weren't for the fact that it was so large it hardly fit in the apartment he was battling in. It scraped the ceiling, forcing the Golden Ranger to lower it for battle purposes.

He dodged, but only barely, as the Dark Sapphire Ranger began changing his battle tactics. Having figured out that the armored chunks of his foe's body were basically a waste of time to attack, the Dark Sapphire Ranger lunged for the pieces of unprotected uniform, the vein-like golden bits that decorated his costume. But most were too difficult for a clumsy fighter like he to even hope to scrape, and time and time again he found himself thrown on his back by the hands of the peaceful Golden Ranger, who was perfectly content with stalling for time.

0, on the other hand, thought it quite ironic that he was keeping Sappho on his back so well, especially since Oal Form was, after all, a turtle. He felt Tork's amusement at the insight. The warrior kept moving, never allowing his feet to remain motionless, for his form was too bulky to resume movement too quickly once it stopped. He did admit to himself that it was heavy, even if his sword was lighter his entire body felt like it had gained easily two hundred pounds with Oal Form. He sensed his stats were dropping, which was confirmed from a brief glance at the gauges in the visor's stat monitor.

He needed a new plan, something that could keep Oal Form operating as long as possible before it needed to recharge. Tork, in response, opened the menu for the Synchronization Drive, displaying the options Iron Defense and Protect as alternatives to having to keep protecting his joints. After sending the Bolt Blade back to PKM, 0 chose Iron Defense to start things off.

"What's the matter?" asked Sappho. His breath was a little more ragged than it had been when he'd started, 0 noted, but that was probably from having to jump up from the floor so many times. "Why aren't you talking? Just come on and hit me! You a coward or something?" He noticed that 0 had dematerialized his sword and giggled. "So, I guess you're done, right? That thing can only last so long, you freak!"

0 activated the Synchronization Drive the instant the Dark Sapphire Ranger struck, his entire body transforming into a metallic grey as he struck a pose for balance, so he wouldn't get thrown down by Sappho and trapped. Sappho's claws bounced off, just like the rounds from the Lightning Laser had done only a short while ago. Unfortunately, it left 0 completely immobile, but he'd been prepared for that. When Sappho came a bit too close, as his curiosity was far too strong to simply ignore something so interesting, 0 canceled the ability and grabbed Sappho by the scruff of his neck, lifting him into the air with the aid of his reinforced shoulder and his new armor.

He asked Tork to use Protect.

Normally, Protect was a very powerful instrument, used to deflect attacks with a powerful force-field through which nothing could penetrate. But it had other uses as well, as Sappho discovered when the force field began projecting itself around 0's body, pressing against him with distressing force. And, because Sappho could not counterattack, and was in essence chained to 0's hand, he was pinned down by the strength of the field, his head and neck tilting in a way that could not have been comfortable as 0 depleted the Synchronization Drive's power by projecting the force field further and further out, making the Dark Sapphire Ranger's neck bend and bend backwards. Tork really didn't want to do what 0 was planning, and begged him to stop. 0 knew that Tork didn't want to kill, and he himself would never kill. But Dark Gem Rangers were tough and could heal from any injury. When it felt 0's confidence, Tork fused again with the Golden Ranger and the pressure increased.

Above them, the lights flickered again and the evil ranger squealed as his neck snapped. His body went limp in the Golden Ranger's hands, but his head continued to thrash wildly. A beeping issued from 0's visor, informing him that he was almost out of energy. He used the very last of Oal Form's strength and the force field exploded forward, propelling Sappho through the wall, through the next apartment, and down the flight of stairs.

His stats emptied and the Turtle Defender began dematerializing into nothingness. He felt Tork's influence fade from his mind, his wrath and arrogance returning from the place where Tork's simple love of emotions had banished them. He melded with Tork one last time, showering the Torkoal with deep feelings of gratitude, then the auxiliary Pokemon was gone, and so was Oal Form.

"That…was interesting," the Golden Ranger said to himself. His morpher beeped and he removed the black Poke Ball that was sticking out of it, latching it onto his belt. "003, is that what you meant by a 'little defense'?"

Bakaguru laughed. "Did you enjoy being invulnerable? I'd advise you to forget about it, your target's neck is starting to heal, so you don't have much time. Go to Rio Form, it's stronger than your standard Ranger Form, and keep holding out until Oal Form revives."

The Golden Ranger nodded and inserted the azure Poke Ball into the morpher. "Auxiliary Pokemon System- Rio Form!" he ordered and transformed into the aura-powered knight. The Arm Boosters downloaded onto his forearms and he grew paws with claws to match Sappho's. "Lu, you there?" He was already excited, he couldn't wait to fight now!

"Aye, sir!" piped up the AI in anticipation. "Let's fight! He's downstairs and not moving! Pounce on him!"

The Golden Ranger crouched, diverting all power in his suit to his legs, and catapulted himself after Sappho. He laughed as he swung through the air, passing through the Sappho-shaped hole in the wall, touching down on the ground only for an instant before soaring through the second hole and down the stairs. He was going too fast, he almost rammed into the stairwell wall! But Lu warned him ahead of time and 0 didn't let his eagerness to fight get in the way of his fighting.

He double kicked on the wall and zoomed through the air, directly towards the barely-moving Sappho, who was only now recovering from his neck injury. "Synchronization Drive- Aura Sphere!" he ordered and the aura transformed into a sphere of azure light around his fist. It slammed into Sappho's face, crushing his face into the ground. "How's the tile taste, Sapphy?"

"A bit stale," retorted the evil ranger and punched 0 in the shoulder. However, instead of ruined flesh he hit something hard and, quite possibly, painful. "You got it replaced?" His voice was full of wonder.

0 wagged his head up and down. "Oh yeah," he said to himself. "Gotta make sure that stays intact. After all, it's the only one we have!" He flipped away, just as Sappho started lunging for him and landed crouching low to the ground. "Come on, Sapphy! I know you've got what it takes to kill me!"

The Dark Sapphire Ranger issued a bone-chilling snarl and bounded after the playful paladin. But 0 was determined and Sappho was sloppy. The Golden Ranger flipped and dodged in any way possible to keep out of Sappho's grasp, as failure to do so would probably mean death. But, because the Dark Sapphire Ranger was too powerful, he had become lax, inattentive, and Sappho's carelessness was the only thing that stood in between the Golden Ranger and his impending death.

0 laughed and dropped to the ground, clamping his right Arm Booster around Sappho's left leg and pulled hard to make Sappho lose his footing. A quick kick to the crotch send Sappho flat on his back again, with 0 hauling to his feet to pursue the slowly-weakening ranger. He was winning, thought the Golden Ranger. He was winning.

"Sir!" announced Lu. "His stats are dropping!" It was true, the Golden Ranger thought, as he glanced to the counter that estimated how much power the Dark Sapphire Ranger still had.

"How long until Oal Form finishes reviving?" asked 0, as he side-stepped a piece of concrete that had been so uselessly thrown at him. "I can't keep doing this forever! At some point I'm going to get tired." He was already sweating from avoiding the Dark Sapphire Ranger's attacks, he didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to last…

"That's it!" screeched Sappho. "The hell's the matter with this? Why'd you get so quick? Why can't you just shut up and stand still so I can rip your face off?"

0 shrugged. "I'd call it…extra incentive," replied the paladin, before chuckling. "See, the deal is I get to see my daughter if I survive this fight. And that's something I really want to do!"

Sappho hissed. He had no choice, if the fight continued he might very well run out of steam before his opponent. He would have to go all-out, something he had rather hoped he wouldn't need for someone as weak as the Golden Ranger. "Okay, Golden Boy," murmured the evil ranger, "time to see how scrappy you are when you're up against the full power of a Dark Gem!"

The giant gem in the center of his chest exploded with power, surrounding the Dark Sapphire Ranger with an intense field of evil energy. The sapphire light sickened the Golden Ranger, made him feel weak. He lurched, but maintained his ground. "How's that feel, Golden Prick?" asked the Dark Sapphire Ranger, his voice savage with power. "Feel good? Feel nice? Or…does it feel like death?" He laughed and each giggle made 0 sick to his stomach to hear it.

"003," he mumbled. "What's going on? Feels…weird…"

"0, get out of there right now!" ordered Bakaguru. "The aura he's using is damaging your systems! It's…some kind of poison that's corrupting your stats! Just get away from it now!"

He grinned. "Don't really think that's an option, 003. Lu, how long until Oal Form's up and running?"

"It's still reviving, Tork needs at least ten minutes to recharge!" shouted Lu urgently. "We're not going to make it!"

0 thought it over quickly. "Synchronization Drive- Endure and Aura Sphere! Surround me with the energy now!" Both attacks issued forth from his body, the aura enhancing his defenses so that he could protect himself from the evil energy. "Oh…this is gonna suck…" He forced himself through the evil aura and attacked Sappho with all the power he could muster.

"You think that's gonna help you?" roared the Dark Sapphire Ranger and increased his energy putout. "Come any closer and it'll kill anyone but a Dark Gem Ranger!" But 0 didn't care, he tackled Sappho and threw him to the ground, struggling to maintain the field around him.

The Dark Sapphire Ranger tore into his body, opening wounds with his claws. The Golden Ranger groaned as the aura began seeping into his suit, despite what Lu was doing to keep them protected. It was burning his chest, his torso…it hurt so much.

"This is the end of the road for you," hissed Sappho, as he tore through the uniform's armor. "So sad…your daughter's gonna be fatherless forever, and just when it looked like she might reunite with you in a tearful, confusing reunion." He increased the pressure. "How does it feel, so close to your goal, only to lose it forever?" He forced 0's helmet so close to his, so that his menacing voice could penetrate every thought that 0 had. "How does it feel?"

The Golden Ranger groaned, trying so hard to get away. "It…sucks," he retorted, and collapsed. Try as he might, nothing would move. Sappho, as he didn't want 0 on top of him, threw him across the room, where his back slammed against the wall and refused to move. He struggled, but the evil energy was too powerful. It forced him down.

"0!" shouted Bakaguru.

He couldn't move. It was all he could do to stop himself from vomiting in his helmet from the aura's contamination. "003...something tells me…this'll be my last stop," he groaned and struggled to his feet, but could only get as far as his knees. "Damn. And I was…gonna meet…my daughter…" He coughed, blood trickled from his mouth, splattering the visor's monitor in red.

"0!"

It wasn't Bakaguru he heard, nor was it Lu. 0 looked up, confused. "May?" he asked. "What're you…doing in my…helmet?"

"You have to get back up!"

He laughed. "Easier said than done, May," he muttered. Sappho was advancing, but slowly, so that the Golden Ranger could properly enjoy the torment he was enduring. "Got any good pep talks left, 'cause I think I'm all out."

"Agent 0, we've just gotten reports from the White and Dark Emerald Rangers," said Bakaguru. "They have Sarah, and they're bringing her safely back to us. 0, she's safe."

"She's…safe?"

"Backup Team will be here in a few minutes."

"Ready to die, Golden Boy?" hissed Sappho, his aura exploding with energy.

"Hey, May?"

"Yes?" she answered.

"About meeting Sarah, did you mean what you said?"

A hesitation. "Y-yes," May said.

The Golden Ranger stood up. Ignoring all his injuries, all the disgust he felt at the aura that rampaged around him, he rose to his feet. "Lu," he said, panting, "there's only one way we're going to be able to defeat this guy."

"I know," it replied.

"I know I shouldn't ask this of anyone," he muttered, his head lowered, "but please…if we don't end this now…he'll keep coming after them, and they won't stop until they're dead."

"I know," it replied.

He gulped, Sappho was so close, his claws ready to drive into the Golden Ranger's skull. "So please," he whispered. "Please…"

The Dark Sapphire Ranger grabbed him and placed one clawed hand on his visor. "End of the line for you, Golden Boy," he hissed. "No family reunion, no happy ending, just a cold, cold, cold corpse with a lifetime of regrets."

"_Give me the strength_!"

Outside, the sun began to rise, and the transformation began.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Upon slaughtering everything that moved on the fourth floor, the Dark Emerald and White Rangers finally reached the fifth floor where Sarah was being kept. Strangely enough, nothing was guarding the corridor and Max couldn't detect any Dark Gems in the vicinity, not even puny Rangerlings. He could, however, sense Sarah's presence, it was practically painted on the door in front of him.

In fact, however, it was also in actuality painted on the door in front of him. _Your Prize is Here!_ it read, in bright blue lettering painted on the door and the surrounding wall. Robin's Egg Blue, Serena thought, the most relaxing and calming of all colors. It did nothing to relieve the anxiety she was feeling, and it had no apparent effect on the Dark Emerald Ranger's behavior, as he walked up and kicked down the door with very little concern for the soothing effects of the color. Following his lead, the White Ranger proceeded into the final room where their prize awaited.

She looked around in shock. The entire apartment complex had been so shabby, so downtrodden, but this last room felt like they had leapt right from primitive living to the very pinnacle of technology. Wires surrounded them, all feeding into the machine that Sarah Birch was trapped inside. The little girl was pounding on the wall, but no sound was coming from the glass chamber. "Soundproof," she muttered and looked around for an intercom, or something like that, so she could talk to Sarah. "Here it is." She found a switch on the cage and the little girl's wailing erupted through speakers positioned above the chamber.

"Help me!" she screeched, her fists beating on the walls like an overbearing drum. "Please help me!" Sarah pleaded with the two rangers, certain that they couldn't hear her. "Help!"

"Sarah," said Serena, as calmly as she could while her eardrums were being destroyed. "Sarah, you have to calm down. We can hear you, okay Sarah?" The girl caught the last bit and stopped her screeching and pounding to listen. "Are you alright? Did the blue man hurt you?"

Sarah shook her head. "N-no," she mumbled. "H-he just p-p-put me in here…and left…"

"Okay, sweetie," whispered Serena. "We're gonna get you out of here as soon as we can, so I need you to stay calm and sit still while we work this out."

The little girl nodded, but turned to Max and whimpered. "Who's he?" she asked. "He looks like the blue man, but he's with you." She looked at Serena, fearful. "Are you here to hurt me?"

Serena laughed and shook her head. Her visor retracted into her helmet, displaying her beautiful face. "Sarah, I'm Keean Toby's friend," she explained. "You remember who I am?"

Sarah smiled. "Is Mr. Toby coming? He said he was going to go help my Mommy."

"No, Mr. Toby's doing something else right now, he'll come back when…when he's done," Serena answered. She didn't want to burden Sarah with the knowledge that 0 wouldn't be coming back.

"_Laaaade_," growled the Dark Emerald Ranger, as softly as he was able to. Sarah cringed from his voice, but he kept speaking, as if desperate for Sarah to know who he was. Finally, he snarled to himself, and his helmet began melting away, retracting into his face like the second skin it was, melding with the flesh until the hidden face of the Dark Emerald Ranger was revealed.

Max Birch tried so hard, so hard, to speak to his niece, to tell her everything was going to be okay. But he couldn't form the words, they refused to come out. "S-S-Sarah," he whispered hoarsely, trying desperately to talk. "S-So s-sorry." He tried to say more, but the helmet emerged again and bound him back into the mold of the Dark Emerald Ranger. "_Laaaaaade_."

"Uncle Max?" Sarah asked in wonder. He nodded. "Are you okay?" Again, he nodded and pressed his hand against the glass. She put her hand against his, and he wished he could hold her, to tell her everything was going to be okay, but he couldn't. "Mommy was worried, she kept calling the police…"

"We've got something," said Serena. Max stood up to inspect the machine. "This thing is rigged to explode, the instant anyone tries to remove her from it. Motion sensors will detect if we break the glass, open the cage, without deactivating the trigger." She backed away from the machine. "I'll send the pictures over to 415, maybe she can help us solve the problem. 415, you copy?"

The intelligence officer responded. "Support Team copies," she replied and Max put his hand to the part of his helmet covering his com-link. "Don't remove any of the wires, it'll trigger the explosion. What we need is a password. Something that'll deactivate everything, I'm sure the weapon has it somewhere. Look around and try to find it."

Both rangers split up, searching the machine from top to bottom to locate it. After a few minutes, the Dark Emerald Ranger growled his successful detection of the device. "You found it?" asked Serena, as she bent over the keyboard that Max had found. It was a word password, which would require a hint to deactivate the machine successfully without triggering the explosives. It was printed right above the keypad, and read thusly:

_We are the Two who abandoned_

_We are the Two who betrayed_

_We are the Two who Promise_

_We are coming for You_

"Oh, that does not look good," Serena said to herself. "What're we gonna to, 415?"

"The riddle has clues," informed 415. "Repeated references to the number two mean probably that you get two tries to use it before it locks down and explodes. It also probably means that there are two words, and four lines means four letters per word. Standard cryptology."

"It's 'Dark Gems'," Serena realized. "Fulfils all the criteria."

"No, the term 'Dark Gems' is unlikely," decided 415. "The riddle is referring to two people, not an organization. These are probably the ringleaders, not the group."

But Max shook his head, he remembered something from what his former tamer, the Dark Sapphire Ranger, had said. Something about two people, Axi and Bix. He took another look at the riddle and had a stroke of brilliance.

He typed in "AXI BIX" and hit the confirmation button. He heard screaming, but ignored it with the Dark Emerald's help, whose soothing voice promised him he had made the correct decision. The machine beeped several times before the power shut off and the prison deactivated.

The Dark Emerald Ranger, without waiting for permission from his stunned tamer, rose and smashed through the glass that was standing in the way of him and his niece. Sarah leapt away, so she wouldn't get hurt by the glass and he made a hole large enough for the little girl to fit through. She ran out and hugged her uncle tightly. He could feel her warmth through his suit and tightened his grip.

"You saved me, Uncle Max," she whispered in thanks and allowed the evil ranger to carry her as the group headed out what remained of the door and down the stairs. On the way down, however, they noticed something moving beneath the broken wall, namely the Rangerling that had mounted the gun.

"Hey, 415?" asked Serena

"Yes?"

"What should we do with this one?"

"Bring it with you, we have restraints we can use to analyze. I will tell 003 that our operation was successful. See you at the safe house." The line disconnected and the White Ranger grabbed the vile creature out of the rubble. Max shielded Sarah's eyes from its disfigured body, most of it was broken save for everything above the neck, which writhed wildly. Serena grabbed its neck and incapacitated it with a single strike to its jugular vein. It would heal, as long as they kept its Dark Onyx intact, exactly like the Dark Gem Rangers could.

As they arrived on the ground floor they powered down. Max surfaced from the control of the Dark Gem and Serena kept a tight watch over the Rangerling as they entered the car, Max and Sarah up front with Serena guarding the Rangerling in the back.

"Hey, Max?" asked Serena.

He glanced at the rearview mirror. "What's up?"

"How did you know what the password was?"

He shrugged. "The Dark Emerald told me what it was," he replied. "It remembered the people Sappho was always talking about, Axi and Bix, then it saw that 'two' was only used three times, which meant three letters, not four."

Serena's jaw dropped at this hint of cleverness from the evil stone wrapped against Max's neck. "Well, consider us even for kidnapping me. Now let's get back home, I'm sure Bakaguru's worried sick about us."

Max started the car, which had gotten even more worse for wear, if such a thing were possible, from the explosion from the elevator. They drove off. He glanced at the dashboard's clock, it was almost time for the sun to rise. He yawned, normally he would be getting up at this time to prepare his Pokemon for a day of training, not driving away from a rescue mission.

Sarah's eyes fluttered and she fell asleep instantly in the seat next to his.

He smiled. He was officially a hero.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

The aura that poured through Sappho simply vanished into thin air. A vortex surrounded Rio Form, pulsating with a glowing white light. Sappho growled and backed away from the energy that warped the Golden Ranger, transforming him into something else…no, it wasn't a transformation.

It was evolution.

The giant Arm Boosters on his arms detached, but remained floating right next to his forearms. They shrank, transforming into more manageable portions that mimicked the appearance and shape of the Golden Ranger's muscles. The backs of his hands elongated, gaining spikes in the center. Even his fingers got pieces of armor, making the new hands more like Lucario-shaped muscle guards than the gloves of the Arm Boosters. His visor changed too, the bottom half took on a darker shade of blue, as did the wires that looked like veins connecting the new weapons to his helmet.

"_Cario Form- online_," announced the Synchronization Drive's AI. "_Claw Gauntlets- installed_."

The Golden Ranger's hands moved faster than Sappho had ever seen without Agility. He grabbed Sappho's attacking arm and shoved the evil ranger into the wall, creating an imprint in the shallow wall. 0 shouted and the spike in his left gauntlet grew as he spiked it through the evil ranger's neck, pinning him to the wall and severing his spine. Sappho's body went limp.

"Lu," said the Golden Ranger, "are you still there?"

"Aye, sir," announced a deeper, older voice. His Baby Pokemon had grown up and the sun was shining through the windows of the ground floor. It had needed the power of the sun and the desire to protect its tamer, but it had transformed just in the nick of time to save them. "What is our next move?"

The Golden Ranger grinned, he still felt the playful scrappiness of Lu's youth, but now it was melded with a maturity and love of battle. "I think that was a bit too easy," he replied. "How's about we let him go and give him a minute to get to his feet. _Then_ we'll beat him up." He wrenched the spike out of Sappho's throat, blood soaking the dark spire. The Dark Sapphire Ranger fell to the ground, unable to move as his Dark Gem healed him. The evil aura surrounded 0, but it didn't bother him. Well, he thought to himself with a smirk, it shouldn't, considering he was using the Aura Pokemon itself as his weapon.

The Lucario was calculating information. "Sir, scans show that the target's power has dropped significantly," it confirmed, displaying the depleted estimated stats on the evil ranger. "If we finish him now, we can destroy the Dark Gem by targeting it right now."

0 grinned and shook his head. "But that wouldn't be very fun, now would it?"

Lu chuckled. "No, it would not," it replied cheerfully.

Bakaguru opened his channel. "Agent 0, now that you actually can, it is advised to neutralize your target immediately. Stop screwing around."

0 nodded. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, Bakaguru sure knew how to take the fun out of a good fight. He flexed the Claw Gauntlets and turned as Sappho moved to his feet, completely healed. "Sorry, Sapphy," the Golden Ranger murmured to his foe, "it looks like I'm gonna have to kill you know." He cricked his neck and stretched his arms out into an offensive stance. On his fingertips, short claws popped out of the dark armor. "But, for fun, how's about we do some fancy poses one last time? For giggles."

Sappho hissed. "You're certainly an arrogant bastard, aren't you?" he retorted. "Fine!" The Dark Sapphire Ranger clawed at the earth, his aura exploding in full force around him. "Dark Sapphire Ranger- Shattered Form!" His aura radiated around him, shattering windows, tearing through the floors, and scraping the ceiling.

The Golden Ranger used Aura Sphere to match Sappho's quite elaborate display, summoning a shade of a Lucario to follow his motions. He moved, striking a pose so eloquent and elaborate that it left the Dark Sapphire Ranger speechless at its brilliance. "PKM Agent 0: Golden Ranger!" The aura shade of Lucario burst, transforming from a radiant shade of azure to golden as 0 changed from Aura Sphere to Endure.

Both rangers ran towards one another, each roaring as they swept into battle. The Dark Sapphire Ranger crouched lower than the Golden Ranger and swung his heel just above the floor's surface, hoping to break 0's legs. In retaliation, the paladin flipped through the air, landing behind the crouched ranger and bashed him with an Aura Sphere-enhanced spike, digging deeply into the evil one's shoulder and shattering a bone.

"An eye for an eye," murmured the Golden Ranger, "wouldn't you say, Sapphy?"

His foe snarled in response, grabbed 0 by the face with his moving arm, and threw him over his shoulder to climb on top of him and bash his body in. The Golden Ranger snickered and just kept rolling so that it was he who was on top. "Ya know, Sapphy, this really isn't my idea of foreplay!" The spire went down again, digging deep into the Dark Sapphire Ranger's heart. Blood erupted like a fountain as he flipped away from the recovering body.

"Lu, think we should end this now?"

"Aye, sir," replied the Lucario. The Aura began channeling into both Claw Gauntlets, transforming each painful tip into bright lights of energy. "Aura Sphere charged, and isolated. Let's end this." The Golden Ranger nodded and charged forward.

Sappho dodged, this time knowing that if he failed to avoid the attack it would be fatal. When he had shattered his chains and unlocked the full potential of the Dark Sapphire, he had also made it vulnerable to attack and break. 0 rammed through Sappho's defenses, as the Dark Sapphire Ranger seemed unused to being on the defensive side.

Sappho grabbed both of 0's gauntlets, forcing the Golden Ranger to halt his attack. "I…won't…let…you…kill…me," strained Sappho, as he struggled to hold back the now-superior strength of the Golden Ranger.

"You…don't…have…that…choice…Sappho!" retorted 0. He shifted forward and, using the Dark Sapphire Ranger's weight against him, tossed the evil ranger to the ground. He felt Sappho's hands relinquish their grips over his own and smashed through the Dark Gem in the center of his chest with his free spire.

He was panting, he hadn't noticed how tired he suddenly was. The Dark Sapphire in Sappho's chest had cracked, its surface was smashed right down the middle. The evil ranger was gasping for breath, his contract was breaking. "I'm…dying?" he asked, as if wondering what might be good to eat that particular morning for breakfast.

0 nodded. "It's over, Sappho," he gasped. "You lost."

"Is it? I always thought my death would be so much grander, like being struck with an atomic bomb," he murmured. "Once you take out that spire, that'll be it."

"I know," replied the Golden Ranger. "I want some information."

Sappho laughed. "You've got a hell of a way of bartering for it, freak," he answered. "I've got nothing left, except maybe a minute or two of life, depending on how generous you are. But, since you've won, I guess you want a prize, don't ya?"

"That'd be great."

"What do you want to know?"

"Who do you work for? What do you want with May Birch?"

"Cut right to it, huh?" asked the Dark Sapphire Ranger. "We're…uh…let's see now… Oh yeah! I work for two guys, one's named Axi and one's named Bix, and they look for people like me…people like Max too…and we're turned into this. We're immortal, as long as our Dark Gems are intact, and we can always, always find one another. May Birch has something we want, oh yes, she has the Dark Gold, the most powerful one of us all, even Axi and Bix's Dark Gems would have trouble with that thing… Thing is, they don't want the little girl having the power, they want it for themselves… So they'll keep trying until she's dead, she'll never be able to run away from them!"

0 paused. "Is it bonded to her yet?" he asked.

Sappho shook his head. "Yes and no. Dark Gold's a fragile thing, freak. It chooses who it wants, it's bonded to her, but it hasn't made a contract. And it never will, because it needs a living sacrifice from a blood relative and their Pokemon to activate. Ain't that fun?" He giggled, and coughed, sensing his time was near. "But don't think we'll stop. There are more of us and we'll come for her. And when we get her, we'll kill her, and play with her corpse, and then…then…we'll destroy all of you!"

"Who is your target?" the Golden Ranger asked.

Sappho burst with an evil, hissing cackle. "You think we have a target? You think we have a plan! You're even stupider than I thought. If you had ultimate power, and you were going to do something with it, why would you limit yourself? We'll do whatever we want, whenever we want it! And I promise you this, Golden Ranger, your precious group, your precious family, and your precious world, will be the first to go!"

"That's…it?"

"That's all I wanna do," answered the evil ranger proudly. "And if that don't work for you, than I hope Axi and Bix think of something really terrible for you. They'll kill you! They'll kill all of you!" He laughed, and laughed and laughed and laughed. Finally, the Golden Ranger clenched his hands and tore out the spike. "They'll…they'll…"

"Target eliminated," said 0, and the Dark Sapphire Ranger shattered and transformed into dust. His body corroded, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, until finally nothing was left but a fine blue powder that scattered along the floor. Parts of it blew in the wind, but the Golden Ranger grabbed some of it and tucked it into his belt. He lifted his morpher and ejected Lu's Poke Ball. Cario Form vanished.

"Pi," said the Golden Ranger, "how'd I do?"

"Great," answered the Pikachu. "Good work, partner."

0 smiled. "This is Agent 0 to Agent 003," he muttered. "Please respond."

A moment later, Bakaguru's channel opened. "This is 003, we read you."

"Target is eliminated," he announced. "I repeat, target is eliminated."

There was a sigh of relief on the other end. "I can't tell you how glad I am to hear you say that, 0," replied Bakaguru. "The whole party's sky high, we'll be inviting you shortly." The otaku was using code, telling the Golden Ranger that the entire group was in a helicopter heading in his direction. "We'll be going back to the big house." PKM Headquarters.

"I'll get up as fast as I can," answered 0, informing the group that he would be on the roof. He glanced down to the dust that had shifted around the entire floor, coating it in a faint skin of azure. "Agent 0 out."

His boots crunching against the dust, he headed for the roof.


	18. Morph 18

**Morph Eighteen: A Surprise Inspection**

Outside the helicopter, the sands of Orre appeared quite beautiful.

Of course, that was because the sun's blazing heat didn't reach inside the machine. Protected by the finest technology that PKM could provide, the Birch family was safely shielded from the harsh weather. Norman and Caroline, quite exhausted from the excitement from the previous night, were collapsed next to each other in a pair of seats. Serena was stretching her muscles, her whole body felt sore and probably would stay that way until she was inspected by the medical teams at Headquarters. Max was sitting quietly to himself, caressing his Dark Emerald as if in conversation with the evil thing. Across from him, the Golden Ranger fingered his ring in much the same way.

"Hey, 0?" asked Max.

He looked up. "What?"

"What's going to happen to us when we get to your Headquarters?"

0 looked out the window, as what passed as home for him started to approach on the horizon. "May, Sarah, and your parents will probably be given new identities after the Council reviews their case. I'll try and make sure that it's quick, but I can't promise anything. Serena and I will probably have to be debriefed, but they'll keep us with you because they like keeping people on cases they've been working."

"You said that the rest of my family's gonna be okay," Max noticed, "but what are they going to do about me?"

"Honestly, I have no idea, Max," replied the ranger. "You're a Dark Gem Ranger, who knows what they'll want to do with you. But we'll all try and get you special status, maybe even get you inducted into PKM as a new ranger, if things work out the way I want them to." He looked up and smiled. "But don't worry about it, okay? Even if PKM has screwed me over in the past, they do care about people. And you're still a person. Besides, even if they do decide to experiment on you, Bakaguru over there will be looking after you." They glanced to the otaku, who was currently busy piloting the chopper towards their destination. "He's a good guy."

Max nodded. "Yeah," he said, "you guys are all pretty cool. I trust you."

The Golden Ranger sat back in his seat, and watched Sarah and May, the little girl sleeping in her mother's arms. "I suppose you'll be wanting that explanation I owe you," he muttered and sighed deeply. "Right?"

"I can pretty fill in most of the blanks for myself." Max glanced at the morpher, it gleamed in the Orre sun. "How…long have you been with this…PKM thing?"

"I was recruited a little while after Sarah was born," he explained. "Remember that vacation we took, Sarah's first trip away from Kanto?"

"The one where you brought her to Petalburg for the first time?"

"Yeah. The day of the terrorist attack." It had been so long since he'd thought about that day, it seemed like it had been decades since it had happened. "That day, May and I took Sarah out for a day to see the town, and we got caught up in the middle of the attack."

"And, I guess you helped out the PKM guys and they took you in."

0 laughed. "Not exactly," he replied. "Five years ago, they were only using a prototype of the PKM Ranger technology we use today. There was only one ranger, named Agent 0, and his tech was not the best. The guys they were fighting, a group of guerrilla fighters that had a lot of bang but not a lot of brains, they beat him up and he had to power down. I was just trying to help, he let me use it to fight the guys and take them down.

"When everything was finished, I was given a choice. They told me that because I had used the Ranger System, I couldn't go back into civilian life without endangering their program. I could either be imprisoned until the information was declassified, or I could become a new recruit for the organization." He paused. "I chose the option that let me keep my family together. I was given special treatment because of the circumstances, they kept me on as an auxiliary agent. I was a hot shot, I loved it there. Being the hero, being a dad, being a husband. I was everything I had ever wanted to be. And I was going to be a ranger, one day. It all seemed like a dream come true."

The Dark Emerald Ranger nodded, then glanced to his sister. "How-how did it, you know…"

"End?"

"Yeah."

0 groaned. "She never told you?" he asked.

"She only said it was bad. She's never really talked about it with anyone."

"Well," murmured 0, "I guess that makes two of us. My job doesn't really allow for much in the range of sentimentality. We work together, we live together, but we are alone. For standard agents, they are trained to work within a unit, the same applies for rangers, but we're not supposed to get close to anyone."

Max looked over at Serena, who was now sleeping. "Is that how you met her?"

"She was a rookie when she was partnered with me. I was supposed to become the White Ranger, but a slight change in plans happened, and she ended up with the morpher. Thinking back, it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to her. She was so quiet when we met. I wasn't sure what to think of her." He smiled and briefly looked over at his partner. "Now she's about as arrogant and confident as I used to be, back in the old days."

Max looked outside the window, a large building was coming into view. "Hey, is that the Headquarters?" he asked, pointing to it.

The Golden Ranger nodded. "Home sweet home, for me anyway," he muttered. "We can see it because we have special optics on our windows and monitors. It's camouflaged to keep outsiders away from it, so no one can find us. The giant building we have as a front is about a hundred miles away and is labeled as a pencil producing factory near Pyrite Town."

"That's pretty smart."

0 chuckled. "We're pretty smart." He leaned in his chair, over to where Bakaguru was piloting the helicopter from. "How long till we get there?" he asked.

The otaku glanced at his coordinates. "I think we have about ten minutes until we reach the landing decks," he determined. "Go into the cargo bay and alert 415 to secure the package for my laboratory." 0 groaned and the otaku snickered. "Face your fears, Gold. I don't want you seizing up if the Dark Gems bring out pictures of 415 and you high tail it with your tail between your legs."

"Doubt that," 0 said with a chuckle. "None of us know what her face really looks like." He walked through the chopper and opened the door to the cargo compartment, revealing what looked like a very exhausted Agent 415 sitting in front of a silenced capsule containing the Rangerling that Serena and Max had captured, writhing and screaming with no one to hear it.

"How are you holding up?" he asked and sat down next to her.

She didn't look at him, but instead brushed the now-grey hair out of her face, her eyes weary and mousy. "I have not slept in three days," was her response. "So, poorly."

He pulled his syringe out of his pocket. "You want some serum?"

She shook her head. "I require no drug to do my job, rookie," she retorted. 415 rubbed her eyes wearily, struggling to keep them open. "Medical treatment better not be limited to just you rangers and the Birch family. I need some pills for insomnia. And headache capsules." She rested her head against the wall. "Anyway, what do you want? There is no need for a second bodyguard."

"Bakaguru wanted me to tell you we would be arriving at Headquarters in ten minutes."

"We have eight minutes, twenty-eight seconds," she corrected. "I calculated it."

She reached into her pockets and retrieved the Golden Gauntlets. "Here, take these," she said and handed them back. "I do not want to wear them anymore."

He took them and stuffed them into the pockets of his uniform. "415, what did you mean when you said you hated me?"

"You require explanations to understand a person's hatred to you?"

"Kinda."

She sighed. "Well, not now. Tell Bakaguru that the cargo will be ready when we land." 0 left.

"How you holding up, Pi?" 0 asked, putting his hand to the com-link in his ear.

"Shaky," it replied. "You used way too much of the Synchronization Drive while we were fighting. Three transformations consecutively, I'm lucky to still be operational."

"Sorry. I didn't know it would have that kind of effect on you."

"Everything related to the Spirit Morpher has to run through me," it explained. "We can use the Synchronization Drive in Ranger Form without problems because our bond is very strong. But the Auxiliary Pokemon require assistance from me to lend you their attacks."

"Maybe Bakaguru can give you an upgrade when he finishes analyzing the Ailed Morpher blueprints," 0 pointed out. "One that'll make it safer for us to use the APS."

"I can only hope," murmured the Pikachu. "You'd better change, we're about the land. You should look professional when we arrive."

0 grumbled. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered to himself, and opened the options in his morpher for his attire. After some searching, he located the PKM Golden Ranger uniform and switched to it. His civilian clothes transformed into the gold-and-black official uniform that PKM had provided for him in a flash of red light. He dusted off his uniform and adjusted his goggles. Serena, noticing his transformation, followed her commander and donned the white-and-black jacket, v-neck shirt, and pants of her station, and jumped to her feet.

"We almost there?" she asked.

He nodded. "Home sweet home. Put on your goggles, 3," he ordered. She nodded and pulled out a pair from her pocket and shifted the pair over her eyes.

"All set," she announced and glanced to the evil ranger in the corner. "Hey, Max, why don't you go wake up your family? It'd probably be more comforting to them. We're going to go help Bakaguru pilot back to the landing ports." Both PKM Rangers headed into the cockpit and got into position. 0 took the copilot seat, while Serena opened communications to the Headquarters.

"Tell them we're coming," ordered Bakaguru.

Serena put on the headphones. "This is Poke 455," she announced.

"Poke 445, this is control tower. You are cleared for landing. Please proceed directly to Landing Dock 3. Escort will be offered for the cargo."

"Roger, we're docking now." Bakaguru, with the assistance from the Golden Ranger, decreased the thrust of the chopper's blades and touched down. A slight lurch was felt throughout the cabin, thankfully Max had advised everyone to grab something before landing. "Open the hatch!"

The back of the chopper opened up, whereupon several agents swarmed the back of the craft, locating the test subject that was writhing across from 415 and wheeled it out. Then the team filed away to allow the passengers passage outside. The Golden Ranger and the White Ranger, flanked by 415 and Max, led the Birch family out into the terrible heat of the Orre sun, with Bakaguru bringing up the rear.

0 glanced back at May and grinned. "Welcome to PKM," he said. "Let's get inside. Sandstorms are pretty frequent around these parts."

She nodded. "Sure," she replied and picked up her daughter. "How you doing, honey?"

"Sleepy," answered the little girl, as they headed into the hanger and the doors shut from the elements. Instantly a soothing breath of cool air floated over their faces, and Norman and Caroline were quite appreciative of that. 0 and Serena were indifferent to it, as were 415 and Bakaguru, and they strode towards the hissing door that would grant them access to the facility.

"This is the primary hanger for PKM," explained Bakaguru to the family, as they gazed about in wonder. Machines of all shapes and sizes surrounded them, most of them helicopters and fighter jets, although Max thought he spotted a tank or two in the back. "We use it to house the majority of our offensive transport vehicles. Most of the standard vehicles are kept in other hangers with the defense machines. The only reason we docked here is because our transport was considered top priority and we wanted extra protection in case we were being followed."

"Cool," Max murmured, the hanger looked like something out of a science fiction novel to him. "So this is where you guys work?"

Bakaguru nodded. "Oh yes," he said. "It is very cool indeed."

The entry door hissed then opened quickly. 0 hated the efficiency of the machine. He walked through, ignoring the salutes from several of the cadets that were stammering in his and Serena's presence. He because of his imposing, powerful figure, and her due to her natural beauty and charm. The passerby cadets looked on with interest at the new people walking through the building, but found other things to be interested in when 0 looked at them and growled.

"Uh…" May murmured, "where are we going?"

"We are taking you to your newly arranged quarters," explained Bakaguru. "But we are first stopping to drop Max, Serena, and 0 off at the Council chambers for debriefing."

"Why does Max need to go?" Norman asked.

"He has been contracted to a Dark Gem, the users of which have been targeting your daughter," Bakaguru explained. "The Council will be deciding what to do with him, as we've never encountered a subject like Max before."

"A subject?" spat Norman. "He's my son, not a piece of meat."

"Dad!" exclaimed Max, stepped in between the two men. "It's fine, Dad, really." He looked over to the Golden Ranger and grinned. "They're going to help me get better. I'm sure they'll do what's best for me, okay?" Norman didn't like the sound of his son's words, but knew that the choice wasn't up to him.

"Fine," he muttered. "Just be careful, alright?"

Max nodded and patted his father's shoulders. "Always am," he replied with a smirk. He turned and walked towards Serena and 0. "Well, we shouldn't keep the Council waiting, right?"

0 shrugged. "I keep hoping they'll die, but those old guys never do no matter how long I make 'em wait." Max laughed and Serena snickered. Even May lightened up a bit. "Come on, let's get this over with. I want Max off the most wanted lists of every anti-terrorist group as soon as possible." The Golden Ranger turned and headed toward the Council chambers. After a few moments, Serena and Max started following him, leaving the rest of the Birch family with 415 and Bakaguru.

"I'm hungry!" announced Sarah.

Bakaguru chuckled. "How about I set you all up at your living quarters, then I take you all to the mess hall on me?"

"Yay!"

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0 hated being inside the Council chambers.

For one, it was always dark. The members of the Council themselves always sat above, masked by darkness to hide their faces. Sometimes, 0 even doubted that anyone was up there, and all he was doing was explaining himself to a bunch of speakers. Which was probably likely, considering the secretive nature of his organization.

"Golden Ranger, White Ranger, please explain why you have brought this individual to this hearing," said the voice of the Council, quite calmly. "This is a debriefing, he has no say here."

0 noticed that Serena was about to say something and stopped her just before her mouth opened. "Max Birch was accidentally exposed to an item known as a Dark Emerald and as such has gained a ranger form in the shape of the Dark Emerald Ranger," he explained. "We were to understand that the hearing was for all active rangers on the May Birch case. He is here because he assisted us in our mission to rescue Sarah Birch. He provided assisted manpower and is a very key component on why the entire Birch family is still alive."

"Agent 0?"

"Yes?"

"Haven't we already been clear on the cutting of the crap? Don't patronize us."

He sighed. "He's here because I want him in the organization. His family's already in protective custody, and he has strength that can be of assistance to our battle against the Dark Gem Rangers. Let him be an auxiliary ranger for PKM."

There was a pause as the Council voice prepared to respond. "While your request is an enjoyable fantasy, Agent 0, we have not finished our ruling on Max Birch's status as the Dark Emerald Ranger. For now, we have decided that he shall be analyzed by Agent 003, Bakaguru Niwa, and his team to assess his Dark Gem's power for our profile on the terrorist organization before any new decision is made."

0 glanced at Max apologetically. "Sorry buddy, guess you'll have to spend some time with Bakaguru in his lab."

Max smiled. "At least it's not a prison."

"You have no idea," replied Serena.

"Silence," ordered the Council's voice. "Agents 0 and 3, we have read the report of the incidents regarding the Dark Sapphire Ranger and his connections, and it has been determined that the protective custody of the Birch family is…compromised."

"Compromised how?" asked 0.

"Your intimate relationship with the family and your breach of ethics with Agent 3 have forced us to call competency hearings to determine your ongoing status as May Birch's guardians. We are also considering the possibility of separating you both as partners."

"What?" exploded both Serena and 0, then glanced rather awkwardly at one another.

"You can't do that!" protested Serena. "You're the ones that put us together in the first place!"

"That was because we were…shortsighted. We were under the assumptions that you would both be able to act in a professional manner toward one another, but our monitoring of your interactions has brought severe doubt about your teamwork skills. Over the next week, you will both be subjected to competency hearings to determine your skills and assess your ability to work as a team." Another pause. "You both, like Max Birch, will be observed very closely."

The Golden Ranger ground his teeth and clenched his fists. "You dare presume we need competency hearings?" he demanded. "Who the hell are you going to get to replace me? To replace us?"

"We are glad you asked us that," replied the voice. "Send them in."

The three rangers looked toward the doors, absolutely no one walked through. Finally, another voice, the receptionist's, came over the speakers. "Uh, they aren't here," she explained.

The Council's voice paused. "What do you mean, 'not here'? They were supposed to be here an hour ago. They checked in."

"Yes…I think they might have hacked through my system and…" Her voice stopped, as if she was talking to someone outside. "Wait, they're here now! I'm sending them in."

Doors opposite to the ones 0, Serena, and Max had entered through opened, flooding the Council chamber with light. Two figures were standing there and, together, they walked into the room, perfectly synchronized in stride. Serena gasped, she knew who they were.

One of them, the leader, stood on the left opposite 0. He was shorter, by maybe a few inches, and he had a lollipop sticking out of the corner of his mouth. His face had a wide grin on it and he flicked a salute off the very stylish sunglasses he was wearing. His hair, a bright golden-brown, was stuck up everywhere, exactly like someone who had recently leapt out of bed with an aversion to mirrors. He pulled out the lollipop, cherry-flavored and colored red, and licked his lips. He was wearing a uniform similar to 0 and Serena's, only his color patches were red and the number woven into his shoulders was a blazing 1. His right arm, to match, had a black watch-like device 0 recognized as a morpher, with red flames around the trigger switch and center. The collar of his uniform jacket was popped.

Both of them looked younger than 0, but the other person seemed much younger somehow, like a kid, even though she was probably at least twenty. Her hair was dark and came down to her shoulders, a shade that looked like a cross between black and brown, and her eyes were strange. One of them was blue, while the other was green. Her face was beautiful, but her mouth was a thin line, unlike her partner's, which was loud and hanging open. The colors on her uniform was simple pink, like her morpher. Her eyes were on the ground, refusing to budge.

"Agents 0 and 3," said the voice. "These are your evaluators, Agents 1 and 5. They will be conducting mental and physical examinations on you to determine your competence to continue serving as guardians of May Birch." A pause, before the voice turned stern. "You are late."

"Yeah…" murmured the Red Ranger and popped the lollipop back into his mouth. "We accidentally took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, wound up somewhere in the Orange Islands in the middle of a typhoon, and ended up stranded on an island somewhere filled with giant Pokemon. It was insane!"

"Is any of that true?"

He laughed. "'Course not," he replied, cool as a cucumber. "I overslept. But we're here now and we're ready to do some evaluating." He grinned and looked towards Serena with a face that 0 recognized from Serena herself. "Can I evaluate her? She looks feisty…"

Agent 5, after some hesitation, glanced towards the shoes of her partner and smacked him upside the head. The Red Ranger groaned and rubbed his skull from the attack. "Why'd you do that?" he asked her in a whiny voice. "It's not okay to hit each other when we're in the presence of company! We haven't even seen new Golden Ranger before, and we're already making a bad impression."

"Agent 1, restrain your behavior," announced the Council. "You will be evaluating Agent 0, and Agent 5, you will evaluate Agent 3. Max Birch will be evaluated by Agent 003. We will reconvene in one week. Dismissed." The sound of a gavel issued and the five rangers knew they were alone in the room.

The very loud Red Ranger walked up and decided to introduce himself, so naturally he went in the direction of Serena and bowed slightly. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Serena Brine," he said, with the grace of a prince.

She giggled. "I see you're still as slick as ever, Dreas Logan," Serena replied, then turned to the Pink Ranger, who had not moved from where she had been standing. "Karin! How've you been?" Karin lowered her head again, clearly uncomfortable.

Logan put out his hand to the Golden Ranger. "How's it going, buddy?" he asked, shaking 0's rather reluctant hand. He looked 0 over and chuckled. "So you're the new Golden Ranger, huh? Gotta say it's weird not having the old man around. I'm the Red Ranger, Dreas Logan, and this is my partner, the Pink Ranger, Karin Karino."

"Charmed," 0 muttered.

Logan cocked his eyebrow. "Aw, we got a funny one here!" he exclaimed to his partner. "Don't you think it's weird that I get to review you, since you're supposed to be the leader of our little quartet?"

"You have no idea," was the Golden Ranger's reply. He looked to Serena, who was chatting one-sidedly with a very mute Karin. "3, let's get going and find May and the others. We need to let them know what's going on." Serena nodded and backed away from Karin to 0. The Pink Ranger then immediately retreated behind her partner's back. "Max, ready?"

Max nodded. "All set."

Logan had overlooked the Dark Gem Ranger and glanced over to get a good look at him. "Oh, this must be the recruit you dragged in," he observed. "How's it hanging, rookie?"

"Fine, I guess," said Max and he fell into flank next to the Golden Ranger. "They're going to be running some tests to see if I can help Serena and…0, when my sister and the rest of my family are put in protection."

"Can I get a look at the Dark Gem?" asked Logan.

Its owner shrugged. "Sure." Max grabbed the chain and pulled the gemstone out of his shirt. Logan awed in its presence, evidently he loved shiny things, and lifted his hand to touch the gem. However, it flared violently when he reached a bit too close and everyone assumed that the Dark Emerald disliked Logan for some reason. Possibly his annoying behavior, but whatever the cause the Red Ranger quickly lost interest in the shiny stone and decided to follow the trio out of the Council chamber. Karin followed.

"How are these evaluations going to go?" asked the Golden Ranger, as he proceeded back towards his own quarters. "Max, you'll be bunking with me until we can get you set up in the lab, okay?"

"Okay."

The Red Ranger shrugged. "Little of this, little of that. Fact of the matter is, I was kinda surprised they asked us to do it. I figured that since Bakaguru was gonna give everyone's morphers a huge reboot they wanted to see where you two stood when it came to fighting. We never did officially screen you for the job, Golden Boy."

"Uh-huh."

"By the way, you got a name to go with that shiny new color you're wearing?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Classified. 0 will do just fine though."

Logan shrugged. "That's kinda lame, if ya ask me."

0 looked at the ranger and grinned. "Good thing I didn't."

Logan and Karin, after following the trio around for a while, decided that their attentions were better called for at the cafeteria, as it was time for Logan's fifth feeding of the day. Logan, after wishing them all a pleasant evening's rest, allowed himself to be dragged off by Karin in the direction of the mess hall.

"Something's not quite right with those two," muttered 0.

Serena nodded. "They're a bit messed up, but they work well together. But that Logan is such a flirt!" She giggled, a slight tingle of red emerged on her face. "It's nice to know I've still got the goods."

"Am I the only one that noticed that Karin doesn't talk?" Max asked.

Serena nodded. "Yeah, that's just one of the many things she doesn't do," she explained. "She doesn't do eye contact either."

"Why?" asked 0.

Serena shrugged. "I think it's some kind of anxiety disorder, she's shy almost to a flaw. I think that's why they were paired up in the first place. Dreas is loud, annoying, but Karin keeps him in line somehow. And he helps Karin do her job by getting her to interact with others."

"I guess you have a point there," 0 agreed.

Serena smiled. "It's just like us, if you think about it. You're so serious sometimes, you need a party girl like me to bring you back down to reality." 0 chuckled and lightly shoved her as he walked past. In return, she slammed into his back, throwing him off balance and forcing him to grab a wall to conserve his balance.

Max squinted. "Hey, is something going on between you two?" he asked suspiciously.

Both 0 and Serena, in response, turned bright red in the face. "N-not at all," they both replied, more embarrassed than anything else.

"We're just friends," 0 said hastily.

Serena nodded. "Best friends," she was quick to offer.

Max wasn't quite sure about that, but didn't feel like pressing the issue, something that both agents were grateful for. They kept walking, up until Serena reached her quarters and disappeared behind the door with a word of farewell. "Where do you live, anyway?" Max asked, as they had been walking for some time.

"Somewhere far away from her," was his reply. "Before we got partnered up, I really couldn't stand her, so I requested living quarters as far away from her as possible. With locks. A lot of locks."

After maybe twenty minutes of walking, they arrived at a door that Max took to be the entrance to 0's quarters. "It's not much," he said, as he retrieved his key, "but it's what I've called home for three years." He unbolted the lock and the door opened.

0 and Max walked inside, but stopped just short of an actual tour of the tiny quarters. Instead of the solitude that he had been hoping for, someone was already seated on the bed waiting for him.

May.

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May Birch, after some slight difficulty, managed to successfully put her daughter to sleep. Sarah didn't go willingly, she wanted to go exploring all around the exciting Headquarters and only let her head touch the pillow after her mother promised her the chance to do so the next day, when all the big machines and all the people would be up and about and more willing to play.

No sooner than Sarah was asleep did a knock issue on the door to their sleeping quarters. Tiptoeing, for she didn't want to wake Sarah, May walked up to and opened the door. Outside were Bakaguru and 415. She moved outside the room and shut the door. "Yes?" she asked.

"Ms. Birch," said Bakaguru, with a nod of his head. "I'm sorry to impose on you at a time like this, but would you object to accompanying me on a late night walk? I find it helps soothe the digestion, especially after a big meal like the one we just had."

"I can't, my daughter likes when I'm nearby when she sleeps," May answered.

The otaku smiled, and looked towards 415. The woman closed her eyes and suddenly her face was a perfect replica of May's. "415 will keep watch over Sarah until you return, but I am afraid that it is important that we speak privately." Without waiting for confirmation, 415 walked inside the room and shut the door quietly behind her. Bakaguru whistled and started down the corridor and May, seeing as the choice was out of her hands, followed.

"Where are we going?" Bakaguru smiled and turned a corner in response to her question.

"We are going to do a little breaking and entering," he replied and lifted a key from his pocket. "I thought I should undo a little bit of the damage that has been done to your family." He turned yet another corner. "We are going to the living quarters of Agent 0. I believe that his belongings should be returned to their proper locations by now."

"Why are we going to…0's quarters?" she asked. She didn't like the Golden Ranger's designation, it felt wrong on her tongue.

Bakaguru smiled. "It is no secret, Ms. Birch, that there was once a time when you were married to the man we now know of as the Golden Ranger. It is also true that that relationship ended poorly." He glanced towards her and pushed his glasses back into his nose. "I believe that, if you wish to entrust the protection of your family to this man, you should understand a little bit of what he has become in the three years that the two of you have been separated."

"Well, he's still the same person, isn't he?"

"Yes and no. When he was brought into PKM as a full agent, no longer tied to outside distractions, it was determined by the Council that he undergo physical and mental training to remove any chance of him being recognized by the general public. Do you remember when he was at the Saffron Contest, under the alias Keean Toby, and absolutely no one recognized him? Not a single, solitary human being could identify him from the person he once was. He has had to make several transformations to shield himself from the outside world."

"But he was-" May started to say, but was cut off by Bakaguru's hand.

"I will put this simply," said Bakaguru, his heart quite heavy with the news he had to deliver. "Agent 0 is _not_ your husband. Years of anger, bitterness, and sadness have molded him, changed him, into the person he is today. And I am sorry for that, but those are the facts. The man you once called your husband has been dead for three long years. In his place is our dog, our weapon, and our fighter."

May stopped walked and Bakaguru turned to face her. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked. "Why?"

"Because I need you to understand these facts," he explained, his face turning red. "There is no doubt in my mind that some piece of him still wants to, and will fight for, the opportunity to reunite with his family." There was absolutely no question of this for the otaku, May could see it in his eyes. "I have no intention of stopping him. After such a long time, Agent 0 is finally starting to live again. And he is my friend." He sighed. "I guess what I am asking you do to is remember these things. I do not wish to see him hurt again. He has…suffered enough for us."

May put a reassuring hand on the otaku's shoulder. "I promise I won't hurt him," she whispered. "Not again."

The engineer lifted his head with a sad smile on his face. "Thank you, Ms. Birch. That boy has had enough trouble in his life, I just wanted to make certain that nothing further happens to push him over the edge like his predecessor."

"What happened to him?"

"The prior Agent 0 was a machine, his body and mind transformed into something that was not human. He and his morpher became one, and he was trapped in morph, unable to transform back into a normal person. He had to wear his uniform at all times, we tried time and again to remove it, but he had experimented on himself too severely to go back. Until you re-entered 0' life, and until he was partnered with Serena Brine, I feared this fate would be repeated. I consider it my duty to ensure it does not."

He swiftly turned around and started walking again. After a moment, May took a few quick steps and fell into stride alongside the silent otaku. They continued to walk, neither speaking, until finally they arrived at an unremarkable door, at which Bakaguru pulled out a key. "Benefit of being the head of R&D," he said, "I can make keys for anything." He inserted it into the lock and twisted it open. He led May through the door.

To May, the room seemed bare somehow. The walls had nothing, no posters, no pictures, it was as if no one even lived in the room. The mattress had no sheets, and it seemed as if no one had ever slept on it. The only thing that even had a hint of life in the room was a picture frame on the clothing drawers, which was turned so that the frame's back was all that could be seen. A satchel was in the corner, filled probably with clothes.

"I'll see myself out," Bakaguru said to himself and left her alone. May hardly noticed, she was too interested in her surroundings or, perhaps it should be said, the lack of surroundings. She took a few steps forward, until she was in the center of the room.

It didn't even smell like him. That was probably an odd thing to think, but May could recall from memory the exact scent of his presence from when they had been married. She remembered it from when they had held one another, when they had slept together, so many other things… But the room she stood in now seemed dead, like a zombie dwelt within its walls. She walked to the door leading to the bathroom, but even that was bare of any personal items.

"What happened to you?" she whispered and her eyes were drawn to the picture. She felt a need, a deep emotional desire, to know what the picture was. She approached it, like a very, very cautious spy might approach a valuable piece of information. She grabbed it suddenly and stared at the back of the frame in wonder. What was the picture of? Why was it the only piece of personal memorabilia that the Golden Ranger owned?

Mentally, she slapped herself for wondering these things and wasting very valuable time that could have been spent looking at the picture, and turned it over. It was a portrait of several people, a group actually. Their friends… "Brock, Misty, Dawn, Tracey, Max…" she murmured, as she traced the faces of the people surrounding the trio in the picture. The married couple, holding their newborn daughter in their arms. "Sarah's first picture with everyone." She pulled the picture out of the casing and clasped it to her chest, feeling tears form on her burning eyes. "Oh, no…" she murmured.

When she opened her eyes to look at the photo again, she saw something written on the back, a sentence in pen that had faded slightly from the years it had been since it had been placed in the frame. She turned the photo around to read the inscription, which was very poorly written. She giggled slightly, 0 had always had bad handwriting.

_ Protect them. No matter what._

Wordlessly, for there was nothing that could have possibly been said in the face of something like that, May placed the photo back into the frame and sat down on the bed. It squeaked as she adjusted herself so she would feel more comfortable, and she put the frame beside her. She would wait for him.

He arrived a while later, talking with her brother. She almost jerked up in shock when she heard the key turn in the door, she had been drifting asleep. The two rangers walked into the room, then stopped when they noticed she was there. The Golden Ranger's mouth was open, in mid-sentence of whatever he had been saying to Max. After about a minute, which actually felt like an hour, he turned to Max.

"Hey, mind giving us a minute?" he asked. "I-we need to talk."

Max nodded and patted 0's shoulder. "Take as much time as you need," he replied and headed back out the door, his hand wandering aimlessly towards the Dark Emerald. After Max shut the door, 0 sighed and put his hands in his pockets as he lowered his head.

"Bakaguru let you in, right?" 0 said. "I need better security."

The both of them stared at each other, sensing tension seething through the room in such quantities that it, had it been anyone else, they would have left the room. Instead, May smiled and looked to the part of the mattress she was not occupying, patting it with her hand. "Here," she murmured, "come sit with me." 0, not sure what exactly May had in mind, sat down only after considerable hesitation. Neither looked at each other, instead their eyes were quite firmly set on the bare wall opposite them. "So, how did your meeting go?"

He groaned, and rubbed his brow. "Pretty bad," he admitted. "The Council decided to set up competency hearings to see if Serena and I can follow you into protective custody. If we fail, you'll be assigned to another team of rangers instead of us."

She nodded. "And what about Max?"

"They didn't say anything about if he's going with you. Bakaguru is going to be running some new tests on him, see if he can be of any use. If we try hard enough, he'll be brought into the organization and permanently assigned to your case. We're-" He paused, for some reason his tongue felt quite dry. "I'm going to try to make sure that your family is kept together, May." He looked around and noticed that his picture was missing from its place on the dresser. "Hey, where's the photo?" he asked. "The grunts had better not have messed with it." He started getting up to inspect the possible theft, but May grabbed his jacket's sleeve and held him back. He looked at her and saw that the frame was in fact sitting right next to her.

"I'm so sorry," she said and held it up. "I looked at it without asking, I didn't-I didn't know what it was."

He held out his hand. "Please give it back." She looked at one last time, then carefully handed it back to him. He glanced at the photo briefly, before setting it back in its rightful place on the dresser. "I was wondering something, May."

"What?"

"Well…when can I see Sarah? You promised that you were going to let her know who I was."

She nodded, as he rejoined her on the bed. "I know, and she will. But first, we need to talk about something."

"Sure," 0 said. "What?"

"Bakaguru brought me here," she explained. "While we were coming here, he…he told me some things about you. About how much you've changed since we were together." She looked towards him, she had such trouble making eye contact with the pair of goggles he was wearing. "When I thought you were Keean Toby, I had such a strong sense of déjà vu that I didn't even realize who you were. It felt like I had you back, only it wasn't you. He was someone strong, someone filled with life." She reached out and touched his hand. "Was that a lie, or was it really you?"

"May, Keean Toby was a cover. When I made him, I based him a little off myself-the way I used to be-before PKM, but he's not who I am now." 0 held her hand and she squeezed his fingers. "Who I used to be…I don't think I could ever go back to him. We're not kids anymore, May. Neither of us are the same person we used to be."

"No," she agreed, "we're not. You've grown up, haven't you?"

He smiled. "I see you're as insightful as ever," he replied.

She giggled. "Being a mother means you have to be able to tell a daughter why they've been misbehaving. I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet."

"And a father is supposed to be able to protect his daughter," he said, his heart heavy. "May, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you and Sarah. I just-we just-" He blew a raspberry. "Even after all this, even now that you know the truth, I still can't find the words to explain what happened."

For some reason, 0 felt the tension that he had been sensing earlier begin to evaporate. He was regressing into his fantasies, he had always dreamed of this, the perfect moment, when May would finally understand what had happened between them and why it had been necessary. But it was also different. The speech he had memorized, the explanation that he had always wanted to give to May, it just wouldn't come out of his mouth. He tried, he still remembered the words, but not a single one rose to his tongue, which sat in his mouth like a flab of wasted skin.

All he seemed to be able to say was, "I'm sorry."

May nodded. "I know," she replied. He would tell her when he was ready to. "When I introduce you to Sarah, if you feel like it, you can tell me what really happened."

He felt her climb on top of him, her head buried in his shoulder, not the fake left one, but the warm right one. Through his uniform, he could feel her tears, and he reclined on his bed so that they could be comfortable. They didn't have sex, no…neither of them was up for it. It was just nice, thought 0, to finally be able to hold his wife again.

"I'm so glad," she murmured.

0 perked his head up. "About what?"

"That I was wrong."


	19. Morph 19

**Morph Nineteen: Red vs. Gold**

Dreas Logan, after some considerable effort, rose from the floor sometime after the morning alarm had rang. He was aware of this because of two things: one, the bed that Karin had been occupying was vacant; and two, he could hear the shower in the background of his morning stupor. He blinked several times, his eyes had a very distinctive color, like his uniform they were both bright red. And like him they were very special indeed. He shifted his head, as his neck felt a bit stiff, then began crawling in the direction of the bathroom. He grinned, knowing what awaited his eyes once he opened the door.

Logan, quite the perverted imp, reached for the door handle. He had to be very quiet, well aware of the beating that could result from Karin as a consequence of peeping. That girl didn't talk, thought Logan as he slowly opened the bathroom door, but she sure knew her way around giving a bloody nose. The Red Ranger glanced into the bathroom, to the untrained eye it might have seemed like there was nothing inside but a pile of steam. But that was nothing to the eyes of the Red Ranger, he looked straight through the fog, his eyes glowing eerily. He could see a distinct shape moving in the mist, like a siren swaying in sprinkling water. He grinned wildly as the shape took on the shape of his partner, slowly but surely. He wanted to take his time with the unveil, he so hated when he had to speed things up and ruin his viewing pleasure.

But, the shape didn't materialize the way he had hoped. Instead of the glistening, naked form of his partner, he saw what looked like an arranged assortment of cleaning utensils. A broom made up the body, aided by a cut pillow to form the curves, buckets for the breasts, and a mop for the hair. Suddenly, a feeling of dread entered Logan's chest as he glanced to the portion of the room he had not bothered to pay attention to.

The area where Karin had been hiding, she knew his techniques all too well, so rarely did he vary them. She was wearing a towel, quite nice in its own way, but the way her left hand happened to be clenched into a fist, and her arm quivering with silent irritation, gave Logan the distinct impression that he should begin informing his next of kin of his last rites.

But instead of trying to explain himself, as he knew that nothing he said would ever have been believed by his partner, he merely smiled and gave the appropriate thumb's up. "Nice curves," he said. "You may now punish me."

And she did. Logan's face, as it so often did, made friends with Karin's fist and the back of his head made friends with the nearby wall, as it so often did. He felt drowsy again, but regained consciousness when he felt Karin climb on top of him, gripping him by the scruff of his neck. He looked up, her eyes explained to him exactly why she was angry at him, those beautiful blue and green eyes filled with so very much rage. He glanced down, the exact angle of his eyes allowed him to see her cleavage. She had small ones, he thought, he had spied on them many a time, with this being the usual result.

Then he noticed the fist aimed at his face. "Now hang on, Karin," Logan began, his hands held up to protect his head. "Let's discuss this a bit." Her mouth did not flicker from the thin line it always was. "Now, there's a padlock on that bathroom door, and I know full well there is because we always request one for events like these. Now, why is it you always forget to lock the door? I know I can jimmy the lock, but I don't think I should be punished for subjugating myself to my inner demons."

This was probably the seven hundredth time he had used that excuse and, like all those last seven hundred times, it failed to work the seven hundredth and first time. Karin's fist, like the hand of Arceus itself, came down upon his nose as fast as lightning. The Red Ranger, noticing the muscle movements in her fingers and forearms, jerked his head to the side just in time to dodge it. Karin's hand went right through the wall, a thunderous crunch echoing in result.

"Why can't we just kiss and make up?" he suggested. "You know this could be entirely avoided if we showered together." An eruption of red splashed along her face and she lowered her head so he could not see. Logan took advantage of the momentary lapse of control to shift his body, rolling them so that it was he who was on top. He gripped her hips with his legs, and grabbed both arms, keeping his body high enough so she couldn't head butt him.

"So, we ready to call it quits?" he asked. "We've got a busy day today and we can't spend it wrestling." After severe rage was exchanged by the Pink Ranger to her partner visually, she finally resigned herself to the fact that he had won and allowed him to stand up. "Come on and change. I've gotta shower, then we'll go drive the rookies crazy." He stripped down, quite uninterested in the fact that Karin was in the room, and shut the door behind him as he prepared the shower.

"You gonna torment Serena today?" he asked, as the hot water he so loved seared his flesh, almost as if he expected her to respond. "I'm figuring on putting some pain on our new superior officer. That Golden Ranger's not gonna know what hit him!" He laughed and soaped up his muscular, if somewhat pale, body. After several minutes of that, he applied some shampoo to his near-perfect hair and rinsed off shortly after. He dried briskly, his hair looking even more like it was in desperate need of a comb. He got dressed and exited the bathroom, where Karin was waiting silently on the bed, her hands curled into tight balls on her knees.

"What's up?" he asked, as he finished drying off his hair. "You chicken out of peeking on me again?" He sat down next to her, it seemed her face was still rather red from their encounter only a moment ago. "Are you worried about these rookies?"

Hesitantly, Karin nodded her head. Logan laughed and put his arms around the girl. "Relax, Karin," he assured her. "We've both read their files, and yeah one of them is pretty tough, but Serena ain't got jack on what you can do! And I've got big, bad Gold, so don't worry. I know you get performance anxiety, but try to keep your head clear and you'll do fine." She gulped, but nodded. "That's the spirit! Now, how's about we go get some breakfast? I think we deserve it after that workout."

Logan jumped up and Karin took her position behind him as they headed out. As always, the Pink Ranger looked at no one as she and her partner walked through the corridors of PKM Headquarters. Logan, every time he noticed someone, would stop and hand them a small flyer before proceeding on his merry way. She didn't notice exactly what the flyers said, nor did she particularly care. Logan did a lot of stupid things, most of them she either didn't understand or have interest in. However, the people who did get the flyers seemed quite excited and kept showing them to everyone they could find.

Logan glanced back at Karin, and got an quizzical look in response. "Council said I could choose how I do the evaluating," he explained with a shrug. "Thought it might be fun to see how our commanding officer holds up one-on-one." As he arrived at his most favorite place, the cafeteria, he paused to open the door in a surprising gesture of politeness for Karin, who whisked by without a word. He shrugged, wondering why she was being so cold to him, before he too ventured within the culinary homestead to engage his breakfast in avid destruction.

However, to his surprise he discovered that he and Karin weren't the only rangers in the mess hall. Across the room, both of them surrounded by people, were none other than Serena and the Golden Ranger. Of course, Logan naturally noticed that May Birch was with them, along with the little girl that was her daughter, the Red Ranger could have sworn her name was Sahara or something like that… Oh, and Jolly Green was there too, making his way through a plate of pancakes practically marinating in syrup. Bakaguru was shifting through a status report, and his intelligence officer 415 was having a staring contest with a plate of bacon. 0 seemed to be nursing a beer a little too early in the morning for Logan's tastes, but he thought nothing of it as he piled his plate high with all available bacon, eggs, and pancakes, thanking whatever Legendary Pokemon had blessed PKM with one of the finest buffets the ranger had ever laid his crimson eyes on.

"Well, well, well," murmured Logan, as he sat down at the table with the group, "how was your evening's slumber?"

"Uneventful," replied 0, before he took another sip from his bottle. "When are our hearings going to start, I want them out of the way as soon as possible."

Logan proceeded to dive headfirst into his scrambled eggs. "Yes, we'll get to that soon," he said between mouthfuls of foodstuff. "But first, breakfast! It's the most important meal of the day, you know!" He grinned and glanced at the bottle. "Not that you need meals, but still…"

Serena smiled at Karin. "I hope he didn't bother you last night."

Karin glanced in the direction of Serena's plate, then picked up a shred of lettuce with her fork and ate it. It barely fit, her mouth was so small. "I never bother Karin," explained Logan and pointed his pancake-ridden fork at the White Ranger. "But…it's not my fault I can see through smog." He blinked his blood-red eyes, then applied his sunglasses.

"Mister?" Logan glanced down, it was the little girl, Sarah.

"Yes?"

She pointed at his sunglasses. "Why are your eyes red, mister?"

"Sarah!" scolded May. "Don't ask questions like that!"

Logan laughed. "It's okay, Ms. Birch." He glanced down at the little kid and lifted his glasses. "My eyes are special, a lot of people's are. My family has red eyes 'cause a Legendary Pokemon blessed my ancestors. I can see everything. I can see muscles in the body as they move, I can see in the dark and through smoke. But it makes them very sensitive to light, so I have to be careful I don't go blind." He tapped the glasses back on, they shut out all the UV light, since they were designed like fashionable sunglasses-like goggles. "I can see every breath anyone takes, even if they're a mile away."

"Wow," murmured Sarah, her dark eyes wide with fascination.

"Mister…Logan?" asked May, as she looked up from her breakfast.

The Red Ranger chuckled. "Please, Ms. Birch, Mr. Logan is my father's name. Please call me regular-old Logan, the L-Man, or, if you wish, Red. I also answer to the designation 'Sweet Cheeks' for obvious reasons." He would have gone on, but Karin delivered a very painful kick to his knee that prevented anything other than a very annoyed gasp of agony to escape the Red Ranger's lips. "Not nice, Karin…" he grumbled, then returned to his bacon.

"That reminds me, Goldy, your first competency hearing is today," mentioned Logan, as he vacated the bacon on his plate into his stomach. "Noon. The battle arena."

0 lifted a brow. "Why are we conducting a competency hearing in the battle arena?" he asked.

Logan pointed his fork at the Golden Ranger with a smirk. "Because I thought, gee, if I have to deal with competency hearings, there's no reason they shouldn't be entertaining. Bearing that in mind, I've taken the liberty of inviting everyone out to the battle arena to enjoy a little sporting competition. By the way, the odds aren't in your favor." Logan grinned and pointed to the bottom of the sign, which was advertising two to one odds on 0 winning.

0 crumpled up the paper and finished his alcohol. "If all I have to do is beat you, it shouldn't be so difficult," he retorted coolly. "When's the fight taking place?"

Logan smiled, he loved the rough talk. "At two in the afternoon. The entire base is coming to watch, I think it'll be educational." He glanced at his morpher and wolfed down his food before glancing to his partner. "Karin, ready to go?" he asked. His partner's glaring eyes informed him that she was not, so he sat back into his chair and awaited her completion of her breakfast.

The Red Ranger observed for the next several minutes, particularly the behavior between Golden Boy and the woman that was with him, the potential new assignment May Birch. They seemed awkward and not the entertaining kind of awkward. It was like watching a pair of schoolchildren deal with their first crush, now that he thought about it. They couldn't look at each other without turning red in the face. It almost disgusted the ranger with cuteness.

"You're about to make me puke," was what Logan was about to say, but Karin grabbed him by the scruff of his neck to inform him she had finished her breakfast. So, Logan was forced to say goodbye to his new playthings, as he knew that Karin dragging him off could only mean he was about to engage in some new training exercises. "Karin, I can walk by myself!" he complained and was promptly dropped on the floor. She stood, waiting as he jumped back up to his feet, rubbing his side and wincing from the irritating pain that she had caused.

"Why'd you have to go and do that?" he asked with a slight groan.

She shot him her usual business look and he sighed. "I hate having to do this every day," he grumbled and folded his arms as he took the lead and she followed him to the training rooms. "Every day, you make me take you there. Why can't we ever go somewhere nice, like a nude beach, or a love hotel? Always the training room…" He might have continued, but a smack to the back of his head encouraged him to do otherwise.

"Okay," he muttered, as they reached the training rooms, "let's get ready for today's main event: Red vs. Gold! We'll show the rookie a good time for sure!" Unfortunately, he wasn't speaking to anyone, as Karin had ignored him and gone in while he wasn't paying attention. He strode in after her.

"Why won't you ever listen to me when I'm ranting?"

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

After breakfast, the group headed down to Bakaguru's lab, to wish Max luck as the engineer began examining and testing the Dark Emerald Ranger for field potential. Unlike the last time 0 had been down there, this time there was a vast battle field, most likely a lifelike hologram, awaiting in the big, empty space that had been the work floor. It was similar to a forest, or maybe a jungle.

"This is where we will be conducting field tests on Max's Dark Emerald," Bakaguru explained, gesturing at the forest. "It is surrounded by a force field to prevent damage to the building and filled with androids to test the combat potential." As they passed the forest in wonder, Sarah reached out to touch one of the plants and her hand hit an invisible wall.

"Over here is where we will be conducting analysis on Max's power output and stats," informed the engineer, as he arrived at his work station. Next to the massive amount of electronic equipment that none of the group save for Bakaguru himself understood was a glass cylinder. "Max will be starting here, where we will begin work on his Dark Gem."

The Dark Emerald Ranger himself was very impressed with the tech. "This is amazing," he muttered, adjusting his glasses. "Who built all this?"

Bakaguru flashed a smile. "Jessie, James, and Meowth are quite useful people," he explained. "And so eager to please. They completed all of this in under twenty-four hours, one of the main reasons I use them so much." The engineer crossed over to some devices that were scattered on the table and began fiddling with them. "That reminds me, I need to discuss something with 0 and Serena. Could you two come over here?"

Serena nodded and glanced to her partner. Both of them approached and Bakaguru held out four small devices that looked a lot like watches. "I've been analyzing the data that your Ranger Spirit gave me, 0, about Codename Ailed." He placed them down and retrieved the Blue and Black Spirit Morphers from a drawer. "Thanks to the new information, I'm beginning construction on new morphers for all six rangers. Both of you will be receiving the upgrade, as will Logan and Karin, but you'll also be getting new team members."

Serena's mouth dropped. "You're commissioning the Blue and Black Rangers again?" she asked. "I thought that those things were retired, and that their users had made them impossible to recalibrate to new owners."

The engineer merely chuckled. "The new Ailed Morphers will be able to use the old data from the Spirit Morphers and adapt it to enhance your powers." Bakaguru turned to 0 and smiled. "While we can't give you the special APS that the Golden Ranger has access to, we will be able to enhance several portions of the Ranger Systems installed in our rangers to give us a better edge against the Dark Gem Rangers. After all, we cannot rely on the APS as our only hope."

0 nodded in agreement. "My system was only able to fight off the weakest of the Dark Gem Rangers. Sappho said the others were much, much stronger than he was. I might need to take a trip to Kanto…"

"Why's that?" inquired Bakaguru.

"You got Tork out for me from Oak," replied the ranger. "Maybe I can get some more firepower."

"The APS is still incredibly dangerous to both you and your ranger spirit," Bakaguru reminded him. "With an Ailed Morpher, you'll have a better chance at maintaining stability, but it'll still damage both of you after continued usage." 0 nodded, he understood. "Good. Now, I suggest you both get ready. 0 had a very tough fight up ahead, and he'll need as much support as can be offered."

0 grinned. "I've just got to beat 1. How tough can he be?"

The engineer merely issued a half-smiled and a slight giggle escaped his throat. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Golden Ranger," he muttered and waved the others away. "Now out, all of you! I need to begin my work with Max!"

May gave the Dark Emerald Ranger a few brief words of encouragement, followed by Sarah grabbing the man's hair, before everyone save Bakaguru, Max, and 415 vacated the facility. Once they were gone, 415 wordlessly headed towards the door and bolted it shut before pulling out a gun from her shirt and inspecting the clip.

"Shall we get started, Max?" Bakaguru asked.

The man nodded. "Yeah, let's do it." In response, Bakaguru tapped a button on one of his machines and the glass cylinder opened.

"Well, climb in, and transform into the Dark Emerald Ranger."

Max summoned the Dark Emerald, which responded instantly to his command. It wound down his neck and into his right hand, its chain spreading over his arms and shoulders. However, Max was in control now, he could keep himself calm until the glass slammed shut, securely protecting both Bakaguru and 415 from any potential damage he might inflict. Once the chains tightened, he pressed the Dark Emerald into his flesh, and his eyes flashed green.

_ "Dark Gem Ignite!"_

Emerging from the form of the former Gym Leader, the Dark Emerald Ranger bellowed in rage as he realized that he was trapped in a glass box, unable to escape. He smashed against the glass, his aura threatening to emerge from his armored form. He tried elongating the chains to shatter the glass, but nothing happened. Bakaguru had been quite generous in preparing for the power of the Dark Emerald Ranger.

"Max!" shouted the otaku. "I need you to focus here!"

The Gallade subverted, and a moment later the figure inside the tube stabilized, though his breath was ragged from assaulting the walls around him. Max growled and glanced down at Bakaguru, waiting for his instructions. "That's better," the engineer muttered. "Now, bring the Dark Emerald to full power. I know that there are two more evolutions beyond this Chained Form, but use what you can right now."

Max nodded. "_Laaaaaaade_," he growled and summoned the aura. The emerald fire burst around his body, licking the chains on his arms, tracing his body with the image of a Gallade. Bakaguru glanced around at the power meters on the computer screen, they were climbing pretty high. But not as high as Cario Form with 0. Still, for an initial form, it was impressive, it easily outclassed the other PKM Rangers. Once the power reached its peak, Bakaguru recorded the information.

"Power down to absolute minimum strength and I will release you into the battle simulator."

Upon hearing the command, the aura surrounding the caged beast vanished. Bakaguru's hand dangled over the release button, the Dark Emerald Ranger had managed to obtain control over himself once, he just hoped the process had been repeated. He pressed the button and the monster walked out, his muscles tense. Bakaguru pointed to the jungle. "Destroy the targets," he ordered.

The Dark Emerald Ranger walked forward as Bakaguru deactivated the shields around the forest. He growled and glanced at both of them, Bakaguru and 415, who readied her gun. Then he snarled and, on all fours, leapt into the jungle. His chains unfurled instantly, latching to the nearest trees and climbing upwards. His nostrils filled with the scents of the jungle as he swung from tree to tree, hunting, searching for the targets he had been ordered to destroy. He growled and smelt the mechanical opponents in the air.

He dropped to the ground, quick enough to dodge a laser beam that only just missed his head. His chain erupted and smashed into the robot's head, dragging it down to the dark ranger for the final blow. He smashed it with his boot and the small droid crackled, before dying. The beast surveyed it; its body was shaped like a silver egg, apparently built for hovering, since it had nothing where the bottom half of its body should have been. Its head was oval-shaped, or it had been, before the Dark Emerald Ranger had crushed it.

He moved on.

There were ten more, whispered the Dark Emerald to its host. Ten more things to destroy. He stopped moving in the center of a large clearing, listening for the ten mechanical monsters. His chains retracted into his gauntlets, he heard one shifting behind him in the bushes. An instant later he growled and turned around to fire a massive length of chain from where the noise had come from. It wrapped around the metal frame and dragged the little beast out into the open. It squealed and fired at him, but the Dark Emerald warned him too quickly. He dodged the lasers and finished by tearing the machine apart with his bare hands. That was a second one down, nine to go.

Three emerged from the trees above, forcing the Dark Emerald Ranger to retreat into the brush. They attacked in unison and the beast roared, slashing at them with his chains. They dodged, forcing the monster to hide himself, using the emerald and black of his uniform to blend in with the environment. Get them, whispered the Dark Emerald to its host. They were right above him. The muscles in his legs tensed before he leapt upwards. They saw him coming early and fired their lasers. The ranger went right between two of them, which caused both to destroy one another. The final one remained suspended in the air, until the dark ranger landed on it and smashed it on the ground.

Six left, whispered the Dark Gem, as its host found and disposed of another two. Four now, it murmured. All of the remaining probes attacked, driving the ranger to the ground with one well-placed laser strike to the midsection. He grunted, but was forced back up thanks to the order from his evil gem to rise and battle. He roared and the emerald aura emerged from his form. The Gallade was quite angry indeed and its host was willing to oblige.

The chains exploded from their gauntlets and smashed through a nearby tree. Despite it being a hologram, the chains gripped it pretty securely and tore it from its roots, bringing it crashing down on one of the quartet. Not wishing to waste such useful ammunition, the dark ranger hurled the tree trunk across the area, to where two more robots met their demise. Finally, the Dark Emerald Ranger used his free left chain and shot it out, seething in emerald aura, and it impaled through the final droid's head, causing it to explode.

That's it, said the Dark Gem, all of them are dead.

"Max," issued a voice over the loudspeakers, "the targets have been eliminated. Power down and return to your civilian form so we can release you from the simulation."

The aura dissipated, but the Dark Emerald didn't want to let go of its control just yet. It was beginning to lose power over its host, and it didn't like that. It wanted to return to its brethren, but the Gallade that had been used for the sacrifice impeded it. As did its host, who was growing in power and would quickly overcome it. Finally, the Dark Emerald yielded and Max emerged from the form of the dark ranger, breathing heavily.

"Max," announced Bakaguru, "are you alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah," he muttered and looked to the chain now wrapped around his neck. "It was just…hard controlling it by myself. When 0 and Serena were with me, it was definitely easier to keep it in line. It respects authority."

The simulation deactivated and Max jogged back to where Bakaguru and 415 were waiting. The engineer was reviewing the tapes of the scenario, while 415 kept a close eye on the dark ranger. "Well," murmured Bakaguru, "if you can keep up this pace, you'll be assigned to your sister's protection team, so you'll be fine."

Max glanced to the table, where the new Ailed Morphers were being worked on. "Hey, Bakaguru?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"What if you were to combine the Dark Emerald with a morpher like that?" he suggested. "If I agree to more tests, could you do it?"

The otaku shrugged. "It's entirely possible. The Ailed Morpher seems to be quite flexible with its power source, so I could see it working with a Dark Gem. Let me sleep on that, okay?" He turned to 415, who nodded and holstered her gun.

"We have testing to undergo," informed 415. "Please leave. We will call you when we are ready for you to continue testing."

"Got it," replied Max, who then headed up the stairs from the lab, hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of 0's fight.

Bakaguru turned to 415, his face heavy. "His Dark Gem is particularly powerful," he murmured, before turning to continue working on the new morphers. Now there were six designs, for Red, Pink, Gold, White, Blue, and Black. "If we harness it properly, we could give him full control of its strength."

415 glanced to the broken Blue and Black Spirit Morphers on the side of the table. "Will we be able to make new morphers beyond these six?" she asked.

"We could, hypothetically, if I modified the original Golden Ranger's designs," muttered Bakaguru. "However, I don't think we'll need any more. More rangers will not make our duty any easier, but making our rangers stronger will." He took out his tools and a grin spread across his lips. "Now then, let's get to work."

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The roar of the crowd was not something he had heard for a long time.

As he stepped through the doors, into PKM's quite extravagant battle arena, he couldn't help but crack a smile. It was just like old times. Just him and an opponent, with an arena-filled stadium watching. He glanced around, everyone was chanting his color, his number. He tapped the com-link in his ear. "Pi, are we charged up?"

"APS is currently at full power," it replied. "I am limiting the transformations to two so that we don't overload the Ranger System."

0 nodded. "Roger. Got anything on Logan?"

"Dreas Logan is the commanding officer of the secondary ranger team composed of the Red and Pink Rangers," it explained. "Along with a distinguished service record, he is well-known for using _zui quan_ in battle. He was the second commissioned PKM Ranger. He is twenty-four years old and is the currently-longest serving PKM Ranger."

"Special skills?"

"Records show that his fighting stats rival ours in Ranger Form," Pi answered, retrieving information from the PKM database. "His bond with his Ranger Spirit is particularly powerful, which most likely is the reason for this. It's only outclassed by ours. Weapons are the Claw Cocktail and the Sake Scissors."

0 nodded. "Sounds like our boy loves to drink," he replied. "Can we beat him with Cario Form?"

"Highly likely."

The Golden Ranger grinned and muttered, "That's all I needed to hear."

The arena was set up exactly like a Pokemon battle stage, complete with lines, trainer boxes, and a Pokeball design in the middle for the fighters to meet in. 0 took his place in the trainer box and waited for Logan to do the same on the other side. The Red Ranger smirked at him, waving with childish delight. 0 was indifferent, but saluted from the edge of his goggles. Everyone in the surrounding stadium cheered and 0 couldn't help but be reminded of his old glory days. Briefly, the Golden Ranger wondered if anyone was actually still on duty. The entire place seemed packed.

_ "You remember your promise, right?"_

_ "I promise she learns today, watching you win."_

0 grinned. "Let's do this, Pi," he said and readied his morpher. At the same time, Logan did the same, though his pose was definitely more elaborate and idiotic. "Let's win one fight for Sarah and go home with a family."

"Sounds like a plan to me, 0."

He activated the transformation trigger. _"Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power!"_

At the same time, Logan announced, "_PKM Spirit, Activate!"_

Both morphers downloaded their suits instantly, and the rough uniform 0 wore disappeared underneath the Kevlar and metal armor of the Golden Ranger. Around him, the cheers erupted again as his helmet surrounded his face, the visor clamping on the complete the transformation. For an instant, everything was dark, then the display booted up and began uploading the systems.

The Red Ranger's armor booted up, summoned in a very annoying way too. Rather than having the armor materialize and clamp on exactly where needed, Logan had somehow programmed his to fly about his body before attaching. On his chest, a Bug Pokemon was displayed, a Scizor's face. Logan gave off one bright smile before his red visor clamped down on his black helmet. 0 looked on his screen, a port of communication had been opened between them.

"Ready for this?" asked the Red Ranger, his voice quite confident.

"Just try not to lose too badly," retorted 0.

Above them, a loudspeaker was turned on, to the thunderous approval of the crowd. "Ladies, Gentlemen, and Pokemon, welcome to the first Competency Hearing between Dreas Logan, the Red Ranger, and Agent 0, the Golden Ranger!" screamed whoever it was announcing. The crowd replied enthusiastically. "As a special treat today, the entirety of PKM is tuning into this even, with broadcasts spanning all the regions of the world from Hoenn to Unova! The second Competency Hearing will take place tomorrow between Serena Brine, the White Ranger, and Karin Karino, the Pink Ranger! Cheer for their success!" The crowd responded quite positively.

0 studied his opponent's armor. Unlike his own, which was designed for steamrolling through opponents, Logan's was clearly build for defense and speed, since the armor was lighter than his, although from the way the armor was distributed along the body, it seemed to have a kind of aerodynamic effect. The Scizor emblem in the center of his chest was a tad creepy, though, 0 thought.

Logan bent down into something that resembled a blend between a runner's pose and an attack position. "Ready for takeoff?" he asked.

0 returned the gesture by assuming his own pose, the defensive position he often took before battle. "Ready when you are, Bug Boy," he retorted. "Pi, download the Bolt Blade. I want this over quickly." The Pikachu confirmed the request. 0 gripped the massive blade's hilt and readied it for combat. "Let's do it! _Go_!"

The Golden Ranger exploded into the air, dashing with Agility towards the Red Ranger, who waited quite calmly for him, actually it seemed like Logan was swaying in the wind instead of preparing to battle. The Bolt Blade came down, but when it smashed into the earth below, Logan was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he, Pi?" demanded 0, as he wrenched the sword out of the ground and shook off the debris.

0 looked down, it seemed that Logan had fallen down in between the Golden Ranger's legs, just barely avoiding the attack. However, when the Red Ranger tried to move, he accidentally kicked 0 in the back of his knee, sending the Golden Ranger to his knees as Logan recovered. "That was a close one, 0!" shouted Logan with glee. "I almost didn't believe those videos of your speed, but I'm really glad I did now!" He backed off, just so 0 could hoist himself up from the ground.

"How'd you do that?" 0 asked.

Logan blew a raspberry. "Beat me and I'll tell ya!" was his retort. The Red Ranger started swaggering, 0 thought he looked kind of drunk. "_Zui quan_- Mankey Style!" He raised his arms, exactly like a monkey, and went on the attack.

"Pi, send the Bolt Blade back," 0 ordered, the weapon wasn't going to help him in the close combat that Logan clearly intended to use. The instant his arm was free of the weight, the Golden Ranger fought back. Both rangers locked arms and the crowd began screaming with excitement as the combatants strained against one another.

"Having fun?" inquired Logan, his voice noticeably strained.

0 managed a chuckle. "Time of my life." Logan was a lot stronger than he had anticipated, almost as strong as Max. "You're holding back."

"You're right," Logan chuckled. He then let go.

0 fell down, primarily because he had been trying to force Logan down, and as a result completely failed to maintain his balance. Logan fell as well, only he curled up into a ball and rolled backwards to avoid being trampled by the giant armor of the Golden Ranger. He then popped out and administered a pile driver to 0's back, driving his elbow deep into the small of the Golden Ranger's back.

"Come on, Golden Boy," whispered the Red Ranger, as he sprung away, "let's see those big, bad powers of yours at work." 0 got back on his feet and felt his breathing was already getting rough. "That's it. Now, Scizor, the Claw Cocktail, please." A red light burst from his right arm and something that looked like a cross between a Scizor's claw and a cannon gloved itself onto Logan's hand. The Red Ranger opened the cannon's blast end and pointed it at 0. "This is the part where you run."

A burst of red energy exploded from the end of the weapon, much larger than anything the Lightning Laser could produce, forcing 0 to use Agility again to dodge it. When the dust cleared, Logan loaded the weapon again and began targeting the lightning blur that was currently zigzagging around. The Claw Cocktail was quite slow, so he had to aim carefully. 0 kept moving, simply out of a lack of things to do.

_ "I can see everything. I can see muscles in the body as they move, I can see in the dark and through smoke."_

So that was what Logan had meant, though 0, as he only just managed to dodge another blast. Logan was able to see his movements, regardless of his speed, thanks to the strange eyes he had. They were better than any sensor system that PKM could design. 0 burst forward, trying to get closer to Logan to prevent any further usage of the Claw Cocktail. "Pi," muttered 0, "what are our options at the moment?"

"His Claw Cocktail is too strong for us to take on right now," replied the Pikachu. "Our best options are to use APS and figure out some way to combat his strength. Cario Form might be our best bet right now, since it has the strength to handle the attacks." Instinctively, 0 reached on his belt for the azure Poke Ball that contained his Lucario. He deactivated Agility, just in time to barely miss a blast from the giant cannon.

Logan chuckled through their communication, which was also being broadcast through the stadium. "Finally given up on running?" he taunted and reloaded his weapon.

0 grunted. "Time for the main course. Auxiliary Pokemon System- Cario Form!"

The ball inserted easily into the Spirit Morpher's storage system and the blue armor appeared and clamped onto his forearms and hands. Finally, the lower half of 0's visor changed blue and the spikes extended from the backs of his hands to complete the transformation.

"Lu?" asked 0, as his personality began the usual shifting towards playfulness.

"Aye, sir," answered the canine. "All systems have been activated. Currently channeling the aura into the Claw Gauntlets. Advise immediate movement."

"Roger," replied 0, who flipped just in time to avoid the next burst from the Claw Cannon. He scampered forward, crashing forward into the Red Ranger and knocking Logan hard on his back. The Golden Ranger flipped up and landed swiftly on his feet, turning around as Logan recovered. "Charge the aura please."

Blue energy exploded from 0's hands, sharpening the spikes and the claws on his fingertips. However, before he could do anything, Logan retracted the Claw Cannon, and uploaded his melee weapons, the Sake Scissors. Two pincer-like claws extended like scimitars from his wrists, both at least two feet in length. He clanged them together and charged the Golden Ranger.

Neither of 0's weapons could help him in this particular situation. The Bolt Blade was too massive, and more suited to combat with a larger opponent, and the Lightning Laser was all but useless against someone who could see the trigger and the targeting of his opponent from a mile away. Agent 1 was truly a fierce fighter.

Both of them clashed, blades versus spikes, against one another. 0, being the one with the most strength, forced Logan down, making sure that the Red Ranger couldn't do anything to stop him. "This time, I'm ready for your stupid tricks," growled the paladin furiously. "You're not going to get between me and what I want."

Logan simply chuckled under his helmet. "But that's what I do best. After all, you're getting in between me and what I want." He grunted, but the Golden Ranger refused to yield to his tricks and drove the Red Ranger to his knees. Again, the Red Ranger chuckled. "You're really not going to let me go, are you?" he asked.

"That's the plan. Tap out, and let me get on with my life."

He shook his head. "I'm afraid I cannot allow that. See, if you win, then I might get separated from Karin. She won't hold back with Serena, and she'll win. You will not be separating me from Karin, no matter what. You can't handle her." Logan's visor opened up and he winked one of his red eyes. "Okay, Scizor! Activate Rescue Mode!"

"Rescue Mode, activated," announced an old, almost reminiscent of a samurai's voice from inside Logan's helmet, presumably Scizor. The armor on Logan's back opened up, revealing massive bug wings. The armor increased in his legs and he leapt up into the air with the added strength. "How's this for fun?"

0 growled at the giant figure in the sky. "Not fair, I can't fly! Why wasn't I warned about the Rescue Mode?" he asked.

Lu didn't know. "Unknown sir, the Rescue Mode is a standard application placed in all PKM Rangers, the exception being the Golden Ranger. It's possible that, because it's standard, Pi simply didn't think to mention it, since you should have known about it beforehand."

"Great," murmured 0. He didn't quite feel like playing in the air with Logan, mostly because following wasn't an option. "How am I supposed to reach Red Eyes now…? I can't exactly bounce, now can I?"

But Logan had to come down eventually, which he did by angling his wings and diving downwards from his hovering position, the Sake Scissors gleaming in the light of the stadium. "Lu, the Lightning Laser, now," ordered 0 and in an instant his clawed hand curled around the gun's trigger. The weapon loaded, he pointed it towards the Red Ranger and fired off two bursts of electricity. Of course, Logan dodged them both, but was as a result forced to change his trajectory and nearly crashed to the ground. 0 responded by smashing Logan's helmet once he got within range with the barrel of the weapon. The Red Ranger went down, but scrambled away quickly.

Both of them stood a distance away, surveying the other's power.

"You're…you're not bad," Logan admitted, his breath ragged. His Ranger System wasn't built to take damage quite as well as 0's. "Definitely not as good as the old man, but not bad either." He got to his feet and brandished the Sake Scissors.

"Lu, disengage Cario Form," ordered the Golden Ranger. "I can probably deal with him better in Ranger Form."

"Aye, sir," answered the Auxiliary Pokemon, and Cario Form deactivated, leaving 0 in Ranger Form. The Golden Ranger removed Lu's Poke Ball from the Spirit Morpher and placed it back on his belt.

"Pi, activate Agility, and power up Volt Tackle immediately," the Golden Ranger muttered, "and resend the Lightning Laser. I'm not going to need it."

"You sure about that, 0?" asked Pi, before reluctantly doing what he asked. "He'll be able to see what's coming a mile away."

"That's exactly my plan."

0 ran forward, keeping a sharp eye on his APS gauge, which was currently full. The Red Ranger was waiting and slashed with the Sake Scissors. 0 burst into Agility at the last possible instant, rolling forward and avoiding the dangerous blades, before he punched Logan in the stomach, sending the ranger flying backwards from the sheer force and speed of his attack.

"Keep it coming, Golden Boy!" shouted Logan, as he crouched and leapt up to fly away. "Time for the Claw Cannon!" The Sake Scissors disengaged, replaced with the massive gun from before. He fired.

"Auxiliary Pokemon System- Oal Form!"

The giant armor formed quickly, as Tork leapt to its trainer's defense. 0 and Tork activated Iron Defense, crouching on the ground to brace for the impact. Neither felt a thing, as the giant burst of energy struck them. They heard the armor groan, but held on tightly as they started being forced back, neither one of them willing to admit defeat. Finally, the blast faltered and was reflected right back at its owner at a very speedy velocity.

"Aw nuts," muttered Logan, as he dodged. But, because he had been keeping his eyes on the giant flare, it somewhat stung its eyes, despite the special protection inside his helmet. And that was why he didn't see 0 disengage Oal Form, crouch, and leap in the air towards him right behind the blast with Agility, which propelled him even further than a standard jump ever could. He raised his arm.

"Pi, Volt Tackle!"

The electric agony began instantly, but just before it began 0 clamped down his hand hard on Logan's neck. The Red Ranger, unable to stop him, began convulsing as the electricity began coursing through his body. As his muscles began screaming in pain, 0 kept himself together as the two began plummeting towards the ground, as Logan could not hope to support both himself and 0 with his flimsy wings. 0 grunted, but managed to get on top of Logan.

"Pi, full power," gasped 0. "Any less and he'll adjust."

"I don't want to-"

"Do it!"

Volt Tackle's full power was unbearable, and 0's artificial shoulder groaned uncomfortably underneath his armor. But for Logan it was like hell on Earth and he shrieked in an inability to adjust to the pain that 0 had long lived with when he had trained with Pikachu. So he had no idea what was going on when he struck the ground, then had 0 land on top of him. The Volt Tackle disengaged, but that didn't change the fact that Logan was in an unbearable amount of pain. As the crowd cheered, 0 noticed out of the corner of his visor that paramedics were on the way to treat Logan.

His muscles quite in pain, 0 stood up and backed away from the Red Ranger. The suit's scans told him that Logan had been knocked out, meaning that…

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have our winner!" informed the announcer. "The first ranger victorious in our evaluation matches, and also their commanding officer, is none other than Agent 0, the Golden Ranger!" The cheers were beginning to get to 0's head, so he demorphed. He felt the air on his face and looked up to the observation platform he knew his family was waiting for him on.

"Is Logan okay?" asked 0 to one of the paramedics.

She nodded. "A day's rest and he'll be just fine."

The Golden Ranger then sprinted from the arena.

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He stood in the doorway.

Wisely, for May had not wished for anyone else to bother them, she had asked Serena and the others to leave, and 0 casually closed the door behind him as he walked towards her. Behind them, the stadium was emptying, he did not envy who was going to have to clean up the stands for tomorrow's match between Serena and Karin.

May was still sitting in her booth, with Sarah in her arms, talking to her.

"Mommy, why did everyone else go?" asked the little girl.

May smiled. "Because, honey, there's someone I want you to meet," she explained and tilted her head back when she heard the sound of his boots approaching. "Are you ready?" She looked at him, and he nodded. "He's here."

Sarah looked up, curious as to why it was Keean Toby standing in front of her. "Mommy, I know Mr. Toby," she replied, as the giant man sat down next to them. "Why do I have to meet him again?"

0 chuckled and May allowed a slight giggle to escape her lips.

"This is a bit difficult to explain," May said. "Sarah, you remember how when you went to your friends' parties, there would be a mommy and a daddy?" Sarah nodded. "You know how…well…you don't have one?"

Sarah nodded a second time. "But I have Uncle Max, he's like a daddy. He lets me play with his long hair!" Briefly, 0's mind wondered if 'lets' was the operable word.

"Yes, baby, but he's not your daddy." May's face was red, as if embarrassed about having to explain to her daughter what a father was. "Your daddy left us a long time ago, back when you were a baby. He had to…go somewhere he couldn't take us with him." She looked to 0, who was looking at the floor, the expression on his face awash with memories. "He's been protecting us for three years."

Sarah looked to 0 in confusion, after all she was still a child. "Is he…?" She didn't finish, but her mother's nod confirmed it. 0 glanced upwards and smiled at his child.

"How about that, Sarah?" he asked aloud. "I'm your dad."

"You should be proud, baby girl," murmured May and looked towards her ex-husband. "Your father's a ranger."

But Sarah wasn't listening to her. All she knew was that in an instant she was out of her mother's lap and was looping her little arms around 0's neck, for they were too small to reach around his shoulders. She was crying in his chest and tightened her grip when he gave her a massive bear hug, his chin resting on her head.

"Daddy!" she shouted, and May hugged Sarah and 0, their family complete again.


	20. Morph 20

**Morph Twenty: The Wilting White Ranger**

Serena Brine shut the door.

Opposite her stood the giant warrior she lovingly called 0. He waited until she turned around and locked her room's door behind her, before she looked up at him. He nodded his head and she copied the gesture.

"It's time," he said. Though he was trying to hide it, she could hear the concern in his voice.

She nodded again and gulped. "I know. Let's get going."

The two partners walked down the narrow corridor, their boots clanking on the metallic floor beneath their feet. 0 glanced down at her, his features tightened with concern when he noticed the rings under her eyes. "You didn't sleep last night, did you?" he asked, as they turned left at one of the many intersections of the hallway.

She smirked, but shook her head. "Not really," she admitted. "There was a lot on my mind."

0 also saw that her hair was matted and filled with grease. Her uniform was wrinkled as well, in complete contrast to her regular perfect appearance. "I can see that," 0 muttered. "You holding up okay?" She shakily nodded her head. "Doesn't look like it to me."

"What gave it away?" she wondered with a sigh. He could read her like a book.

He grinned. "You don't look like you slept a wink."

"Neither do you," she retorted.

He halted his advance through the hallway, realizing that she was making a joke, and chuckled. "Good point." He reached into his jacket and retrieved a vial of the serum. "Want some of my serum to perk you up? It's better than caffeine."

She declined. "I don't want to become an addict."

He raised his brow thoughtfully. "Well, that makes one of us," he muttered and returned the vial to his jacket. "I should probably ask Bakaguru to give me something to help quit the stuff anyway."

Serena paused, this was out of character for the Golden Ranger. She looked up at him, he was even smiling a little bit beneath his standard sarcastic grin. No…wait, it was a bit more than a smile, 0 appeared to be glowing. "Hang on," she murmured, "did someone replace you with a Ditto?" She narrowed her brows suspiciously. "What's gotten you so happy?"

His grin widened. "Is it really that noticeable?"

"Yeah, it is," Serena replied. "So, what happened?"

"Well…" He scratched his jaw, mostly because he could hardly believe it had happened himself. "Sorry, I was there and I still can't believe it," he explained. "Yesterday…yesterday May told Sarah that I'm her father." His grin broadened into a full smile. "She gave me a hug, and she called me 'Daddy'." He turned to Serena, she had never seen him so happy before. "She called me Daddy, 3."

He chuckled as Serena threw out her arms and enfolded him in a massive hug. "You big softie!" she squealed and punched his shoulder when they broke apart. "That's great news!"

He gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, it is," he said with a chuckle. "I really think this could be going somewhere, 3. And-" He hesitated briefly, but continued "-May and I might be getting back together."

Serena perked up her ears. "Really?" she asked.

0 nodded. "We're going to be going on this kinda-sort of date thing in Pyrite Town next week. I suppose it's to see where our relationship can go from there. Bakaguru said that he and 415 will be able to baby-sit Sarah while we're out, so we'll have the whole day together."

Serena was happy, truly she was, but something in that made her worry. "You need to be careful," she mumbled, as she resumed walking down the hallway. "I don't want to see you hurt again, okay?"

"I know," he said and caught up to her. "Trust me, one of the first things on my mind is to not get too hopeful about this, but that lingering hope I've had inside me all these years, that little nagging voice that told me one day I would get back what I've lost… That voice is shouting inside my head, screaming in joy."

"We're almost there," she said, changing the subject. "And I really need a good pep talk. Karin's tough."

"Not as tough as Logan is," pointed out 0. "You'll be fine, and then we'll be partners again. Simple as that."

"Wow, that was incredibly lame," retorted Serena.

"I'm not much of a motivational speaker," 0 muttered. "Maybe they are, though."

Serena blinked. "Who?" Then she came face to face with almost a half-dozen people.

May, Sarah, Bakaguru, Max, even 415 had turned up to wish her good luck.

"Serena," Bakaguru said, pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, "there is a lot riding on today. I know that it will turn out for the best, so give it your all, and have no regrets about holding back on Karin."

Serena giggled, a tear came to her eyes. "That pep talk was almost as bad as 0's…" She felt something grab her waist and looked down to see 0's daughter looking up at her with a worried expression.

"Please don't leave, Ms. Birch," she pleaded and shoved her face into the ranger's jacket. "Mommy says you look after Daddy when he's in trouble."

"Serena," May said, drawing her daughter back, "good luck today. I would feel much safer knowing that you're the one helping…" She looked to 0, and smiled "…I would feel better knowing you're the one keeping an eye on 0. He's a bit of a scatterbrain, so he needs all the help he can get."

Serena laughed. "Now that's more like a pep talk," she replied between giggles.

415 decided, after careful reflection, that it would be wise not to add anything to the conversation and continued to smoke her cigarette in blissful silence. Bakaguru clasped Serena's shoulder and gave a big smile.

"Ready for victory?" he asked.

Serena nodded. "Always," she said and fought to keep back the tears of gratitude welling up inside her eyes. "Okay, 0, let's do this. I'm ready?"

"Good thing 3, because here comes the competition." Serena followed 0's hand as he pointed behind her, where Karin was waiting with Logan. She was radiating pure anger and stared daggers into the Golden Ranger. Logan, on the other hand, was quite interested in the group and waved wildly at Serena and 0. Karin, noticing this, proceeded to drag her partner in the direction of the opposite entrance to the battlefield. Logan continued to wave goodbye enthusiastically until he was out of eyeshot.

Above them, a large bell chimed and Serena took a deep breath. "Well, let me take care of this, and we'll be on our way, right?"

0 nodded with a smile. "Right, 3."

Serena turned to the doors and started the long, lonely walk into the stadium.

The light, artificial though it was, really made it seem as though she was outside. PKM's chief engineers had designed the battle arena to mimic the sky above with powerful holographic technology, and sunlight streamed through the desert field. She took a deep breath, even the filtered air seemed to be fresh. Across from her, standing in her position in the center of the field, waited Karin, her small face a slate. Serena detected nothing of what hid behind Karin's expression, nothing but the flesh and bones and blood that it was made up of.

It frightened the White Ranger.

"Okay," she whispered to herself, trying to slow her racing heart, "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…" She continued to repeat herself until the arena spokesman activated his microphone.

"…Ladies and gentlemen!" he announced to the cheers of the crowd. "Welcome to the second and last competency hearing between Serena Brine, the White Ranger, and Karin Karino, the Pink Ranger!" The crowd roared its approval of the match up. "Our beautiful Rangers will be doing battle today, with the victor being attached to work alongside the powerful Agent 0!" Wolf whistles echoed through the stadium. "Let's let these ladies morph and we'll get right to the fight!"

Serena lifted her morpher to her lips. "I can do this," she muttered one last time, maintaining eye contact with the unblinking Karin. _"PKM Spirit, Activate!"_ Her body glowed and the White Ranger uniform materialized around her as her systems booted up in her visor.

Karin, on the other hand, pushed the button on her pink morpher, causing a needle to jab into her wrist and take a sample of her blood, verifying her DNA and activating the transformation. The Pink Ranger emerged, on her chest the symbol of a Jigglypuff. Unlike Serena, who leapt into an offensive position, Karin made no move whatsoever and kept her arms dropped lifelessly by her sides, her visor slunk as she continued to stare at Serena.

"Let's start this battle!" the announcer screamed. "Begin!"

Serena braced herself, certain that Karin was about to attack, but the impending rush didn't happen. Instead, Karin was more than willing to wait, not moving an inch. "Well," murmured Serena, bracing her gloves into fists, "if she isn't going to start this thing off, then I've got no problem coming to her!" She shouted and the crowd followed her exclamation as she charged forward, a Frost Fan forming in her right hand.

Perfectly balanced, she swiped at Karin's neck. However, at the last instant Karin dodged, or rather simply fell backwards onto the ground, reaching out her feet, ensnaring Serena's legs, and jerked as she rolled to the side. Serena winced as her feet were twisted and she crashed to the ground. A sharp punch then smashed into her chest and she coughed up all the oxygen in her lungs as Karin stood back up and walked twenty paces away. Then, as if nothing had happened, Karin dropped her hands to her sides once again and stared at Serena, waiting for the White Ranger to get back up.

Winded but by no means finished, Serena sprang back to her feet, though she felt a slight pang in her tendons from the attack. Karin started moving away, exactly as Serena started moving forward, and flipped as the White Ranger slashed and slashed with the Frost Fan, dodging each and every time. After the tenth failed strike, Karin extended her legs and smashed into Serena's jaw with a perfectly-timed kick. Serena was stunned but recovered, though her neck ached, and continued advancing.

It was impossible to read Karin, thought Serena, trying to figure out some way to properly land a hit on her foe. Everything the Pink Ranger did was instinctual reaction to Serena's movements, with absolutely no premeditated thought. Karin was never going to attack on her own.

Serena landed a hit, smashing directly into Karin's stomach. The crowd cheered, but Karin didn't make a sound, simply twisting her body around Serena and smashing the back of her helmet with her elbow. Serena, not to be outdone, somersaulted in place and swept-kicked Karin's lower legs. The Pink Ranger easily dodged the attack, but didn't notice Serena as she folded up the Frost Fan and shoved it right into Karin's right kidney. The Pink Ranger paused briefly, as if sorting out the pain, which gave Serena plenty of time to viciously roundhouse kick the Pink Ranger's neck, sending her sprawling to the ground.

"I can do this," Serena muttered, feeling her breath getting a little heavy.

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"Hello!" Waving in an extremely loud and annoying fashion, the Red Ranger descended upon 0's group. Keeping Sarah secure in his lap, 0 glanced up to see what Logan wanted.

"Can I help you, Logan?" he asked. "Need help finding a seat?"

Logan laughed. "Have I mentioned you're funny, Golden Boy?" He tapped his finger against his mouth, as if unsure exactly what he wanted to ask. "Oh yeah, now I remember!" he exclaimed with a smile and turned towards May. "Pardon me, Ms. Birch, but do you mind if I borrow your gentleman caller for a minute or two? I need to have a quick chat with him, I promise I won't keep him long."

May, who was sitting next to 0, nodded. "That's fine with me," she told him. "Sarah, Daddy's got to go take care of some work, come sit with Mommy."

"No!" squealed Sarah and she gripped 0's protective arms tightly. "I wanna stay with Daddy!"

0 chuckled and patted his daughter's head. "Hang on, Sarah. I'll be back before you know it, okay?"

"Promise, Daddy?"

He nodded. "I promise." With much reluctance, Sarah allowed herself to be lifted from 0's cradling lap and placed in May's, where she immediately began to cheer with the rest of the crowd for Serena. "Be right back," he told May and stood up. "Let's go Logan." He followed Logan through the incredibly crowded arena until they managed to find a pair of seats relatively outside of earshot from most of the spectators in the nosebleed section.

0 sat down. "What did you want to talk about?"

Logan took his seat. "Why, the match of course," he replied cheerfully and pointed to the two combatants. "I thought it would be fun to watch our partners duke it out. Want to bet on the match?"

0 shook his head. "Not really, I'm sure that 3 should be able to pull through without too many problems. She got off to a rough start but she's starting to get the better of Karin."

Logan suppressed a chuckle. "Is that what you think?" he asked. "Well, if you say so…"

"What?" 0 asked.

Logan stifled a yawn. "Well, I already know the outcome of this little fight. I never bet unless I'm sure of how something's going to end."

"Really? How's it ending?"

"Serena wins," Logan replied. "But only because Karin forfeits."

0 thought he didn't hear the Red Ranger properly. "What?" he exclaimed.

Logan sighed. "Serena wins, but only because Karin forfeits," he repeated, slowly and as if he were speaking to an infant. "Would you like me to write it down for you?" He pointed down to the stadium, observing the competitors. "See how neither one of them has activated their Rescue Mode yet? The battle's hardly started and you're declaring the winner based on a few lucky punches?"

"You're declaring the winner based on absolutely nothing," 0 pointed out.

Logan shook his head. "Incorrect, I am basing my assumption on knowing my partner, Golden Boy. Karin does not accept losing, she won't physically allow it. At this point all that she's doing is toying with Serena like a cat with a mouse. Karin will finish it when she's ready, when she feels that she's done enough."

Logan reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved two bottles, a beer for 0 and a cola for himself. 0 took the drink and popped off the top.

"Still, 3 could use Rescue Mode too, that would make them even," 0 pointed out. "I've never seen her use it but I'm sure she can pull it off if you and Karino can."

"Well, that tells me a lot," Logan muttered, sipping on his soda bottle. "I guess you and Serena aren't very close as far as partners go, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" 0 asked coldly.

"You're kidding me, right?" Logan shook his head, he couldn't hide the smirk on his face. "Serena's got a Rescue Mode, all of us do. Well, except for you, of course, but you have the APS to compensate. No, she has one, but she's never used it. There's never been a recorded activation in her files and I knew you'd never seen it. Saw it in your stance while we were fighting." He grinned and batted his large red eyes at 0. "Must have really spooked you, not knowing that we could also transform."

"A little, I guess," admitted the Golden Ranger. "But why won't 3 use Rescue Mode? From what I saw from you, it looks pretty powerful."

"You're her partner, and you haven't realized it yet? Gee whiz, man, are you really that thick-headed outside of a fight? Serena's not working with her Ranger Spirit!"

"What?"

The Red Ranger sighed, then furrowed his brows. "Serena's not working with her ranger spirit, Seel," he explained. "In order to activate Rescue Mode, we have to completely fuse ourselves with our ranger spirit. That's why I work so well with Scizor and Karin's good with Jigglypuff or how you and Pikachu work so well together. That's why the process for selecting a PKM Ranger is so difficult, you need to be able to trust your partner with your life. Serena's never been able to do that." He turned back, keeping his gaze on the fight. "She's out there fighting all by herself, without you or even her own ranger spirit to back her up. Serena's operating that Ranger System entirely by herself, without the aid of an onboard Pokemon to man her systems. Her ranger spirit is used solely for transforming." He sighed. "She's just never been able to fight with Seel."

0 looked down at Serena. "I-I had no idea."

"You know," Logan muttered, "you must suck to have as a partner if you can't even tell if something's wrong with your teammate. When Karin's thinking something, I know what it is right away." He opened his mouth to say more, but found that his shirt collar had been grabbed by the Golden Ranger, who had abandoned his bottle with a clatter to the floor and had the expression of someone quite angry.

"Take it back," he ordered.

The Red Ranger chuckled. "Oh," he murmured, "did I strike a nerve?" He brushed 0 away with one swift motion of his hand. "Relax. You guys are new, you're still getting used to each other. It's actually kind of sad in a way."

"Why?"

Logan returned to his seat and pointed to the arena. "Because if I know Karin, and I'm pretty sure that I do, she's not going to go down without a fight. She'll forfeit, but only after everyone understands that she won the fight. She's…got a little problem with competition, and she doesn't like it when I'm around other women, so I'm pretty sure she's going to make sure that Serena doesn't go anywhere near me again."

0 was shocked that Karin would do such a thing. "But how's she going to do that?" He glanced briefly at Logan, whose face practically spelled out what that meant. "Wait, you're crazy Logan, she can't-"

"-Oh, she's not going to kill Serena," interrupted Logan, "if that's what you're thinking. She's just going to completely and utterly demolish your partner. And, for good measure, she'll probably break the Spirit Morpher too so she can't fight again."

"That's insane! It'll kill 3!"

Again, the Red Ranger chuckled at the naivety of the Golden Ranger. "You're not getting it, Golden Boy. Karin doesn't kill. She can't really, it's not in her weird sense of morals. She is, however, very gifted with machines, and she does know how to deactivate a Spirit Morpher if she feels like it. Why, I myself have come close to losing mine on more than one occasion. This one time, I remember she took hers apart just to see what it was made of and reassembled it. She knows just as much about it as Bakaguru does, so she figured out a way to permanently deactivate a morpher if she ever needed to. All without killing the ranger bonded to the device." He gave 0 a look that resembled pity, but continued to watch the fight. "Besides, Serena isn't in synch with her Ranger Spirit anyway…that makes her even more vulnerable."

"Why's that?"

"Karin showed me that the ranger and the ranger spirit have to be linked on some level for a morpher to operate. If that connection is severed, well, then it's bye-bye for the ranger spirit, and since it's the connection that's been terminated, and not the device, the morpher just detaches without any harm to the ranger."

"Why's Karin got to do that?" 0 asked. "Why doesn't she just surrender if she wants to stay partnered with you?"

"Heck if I know, buddy," replied Logan with a shrug. "I guess she doesn't want to look weak in front of the crowds, but you beating me in front of this group probably had something to do with her wanting to punish somebody for my loss." He grinned. "Sometimes I'm certain that that girl hates me, but man is she devoted to me too. Always keeping me out of trouble, saving my tail in fights. I just can't figure that girl out, even though I probably know her better than anyone. I guess that's a bit of a paradox, isn't it?" Logan chucked and finished what was left of his partially-spilt cola.

"She probably wants to keep things the same, just like you do," 0 said and leaned on the railing, then a thought came to his head and he chuckled. "Or maybe she's in love with you."

"Ha! That's a good one," retorted the Red Ranger. "Karin doesn't show emotions like you and I do. She's…special. She doesn't speak, she doesn't have any body language, you can barely tell what she's thinking. That's why we work so well together, because everyone can tell what I'm thinking."

0 chuckled. "Sounds to me like you're the one in love with her."

He nodded. "Yeah, I am."

There was a slight silence after that, as 0 absorbed the statement. Both men looked to the battlefield, but now 0 noticed something different, something very subtle about Logan he hadn't seen before. The man's eyes were engaged not on the fight, but on Karin alone. He was watching her, looking for signs that 0 presumed only he knew about the Pink Ranger.

"You're afraid for her," the Golden Ranger muttered. "You don't want her doing something she'll regret."

"Yeah." He looked up into the air and blew a raspberry. "Ever since we've been partners, I've always been with her. She won't leave me alone, and I can't leave her alone. Karin's someone you only meet once in a lifetime, you know?"

0 nodded. "I know that feeling."

"With Serena?"

0 shook his head. "No, with my wife, May."

Logan nodded thoughtfully. "Ah, yeah, forgot you used to be married to her. Trying to get back together again?"

"I've been trying to keep away from her ever since I came to PKM full time. But with the assignment and everything that happened… It's like there's some force that's trying to give me a second chance. A second chance to have a family with my wife and daughter."

"Ah, the kid," said Logan. "Forgot she was yours too, but then again I've got a really bad memory. Well, where does that leave Serena then?"

"She's my partner and she's my best friend," the Golden Ranger replied. "I want to keep that, she's the closest thing I've had to a friend for a long time, excluding Pi."

"I can see that. Guess you really can't decide who you're supposed to be with for the rest of your life, huh?" 0 nodded with a smile. "Well, I'm going to try and win Karin. I owe her that much, my very best effort, right?"

"You know, Logan," said 0, "this is kind of deep for you."

"I'm not normally like this," Logan agreed. "But Karin's someone I'm serious about." He smiled. "Guess you know what that's like with May, huh? You've spent three years apart. But your feelings are still strong enough to bind you together. I want that with Karin. I'd fight through Hell and back for her, just to see her smile."

"I think you'll have to fight a lot more for something like that," 0 retorted. "I've never seen her mouth so much as flinch."

The two laughed.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Serena was starting get tired.

At first, the zombie-like Karin had refused to advance, and hadn't even budged before Serena made any action, but now the Pink Ranger was slowly but surely beginning to start pursuing Serena. No attack worked, no matter how hard she was hit Karin kept coming and coming for more. Each strike only served as a momentary distraction to the inevitable defeat that was coming.

What was Karin? What was she, to be able to take so much damage and still be the mute creature that would not stop, would never cease, until everything around her stopped. Huffing and puffing, Serena continued the fight.

The Pink Ranger, who must have sensed that her opponent was starting to lose her strength, took a moment to pause the match before the serious combat began. She lifted her morpher up so she could see what she was doing and pressed an additional button on the side of the machine, her Rescue Mode activation switch.

The bottom half of her helmet opened up, displaying a mouth plate complete with lips and nose. Portions of the armor on her gloves, boots, belt, and chest opened to unveil speakers, and the sides of her helmet opened up to mimic the shape of Jigglypuff ears with more. She clenched her hands into fists and continued her advance once the transformation was complete.

Now, the battle began.

Serena stood ready, activating the defense systems in her visor and preparing for the sonic bursts that would shortly attempt to rip her down. Fortunately the system came complete with life support, so she shut out all outside sound to neutralize most of Karin's offensive capabilities.

Karin simply activated her sonic vibrations, which traveled through the air and through the ground, destabilizing Serena's sense of balance. She slipped and fell to the ground, but was grabbed and hoisted back up immediately by a vibrating hand which turned the bones and muscles in her neck to jelly. Serena felt her body go limp as the hand tightened its grip on her and a fist out of nowhere sent her sprawling to the ground.

Karin Karino, the enigmatic Pink Ranger, was going to kill her.

A boot smashed against her chest, cutting off her windpipe. It released her a moment later, only to deliver a kick to her side, rolling her onto her stomach. Karin hauled her up again, grabbed the back of her helmet, and drove her right back into the ground.

This was pathetic, thought the White Ranger.

The crowd's cheers were lessening in response to the sudden increase in brutality. Karin kept coming, forcing Serena to stay down with her sonic vibrations. From what Serena could tell from her surroundings, the sonic bursts were outside the spectra of human hearing, but were still powerful enough to generate vibrations in silence. Meanwhile, she felt Karin's boot crush her right elbow and Serena cried out in pain.

"I'm going to die," she whispered to no one, for she was the only one who could hear her. Not 0, not Sarah, not May, not Bakaguru. She was utterly alone, again. No one would come save her this time…like they once had. "I'm going to be alone." And she was afraid.

She scanned over her battle damage, it was getting extensive. Her health meter was dropping, she needed a new plan, some new way to fight, but… She sighed, there was but one option left, foolish though it was.

She opened communications. Sparks flew in a system that had never been used before, not since she had first become the White Ranger. She opened the gateway for her ranger spirit, and the symbol for Seel appeared on the bottom corner of her visor.

"Seel," she murmured, lowering her head, "I need you."

There was no answer, why would there be? Karin granted her a brief respite, sensing that the White Ranger was massing everything she had left for the final attack. Seel remained mute to Serena's plea.

"Seel," Serena mumbled, feeling tears streaming down her face. "I need your help, so much right now. I need to beat her, I need to have the strength to stop her! She's going to kill me!" Still, nothing. After years of solitude, it would seem, the Seel had learned bitterness. "Please, I need the Rescue Mode! Only this one time, I'm begging you!"

Still nothing and Karin grew impatient, walking forward with her slow, deliberate pace to terrify those watching her, all of whom had fallen silent. Serena shrieked in the soundless vortex of her helmet.

Karin reached out, grabbed a shoulder which turned weak under the vibrations. Serena couldn't stop her as the Pink Ranger smashed with her powerful hands, cracking two ribs and bruising another. Serena didn't even have the strength to call out in pain for help, for someone to rescue her. Only no one was coming. Karin would keep her conscious until she was satisfied.

"Please…help me," Serena whispered to the silence.

She was thrown to the ground again and this time her back hit a particularly nasty piece of rough earth, bruising it. She arched her back in pain, but could not naught but whimper as she waited for her tormentor to reach her. Karin grabbed her and shoved her harder into the ground. Serena began to feel her armor cracking.

But Karin's gaze did not waver. She grabbed Serena's right arm and twisted it sharply behind her back. Serena panicked when she felt, through her uniform, Karin reaching for her PKM Morpher. "N-no!" She started struggling, but the Pink Ranger dug her boot into her kidney, sending jolts of pain through the White Ranger's body. "No!" She knew what was coming.

She tried to jerk her hand out of Karin's grasp, but her foe merely increased the vibrations of her sonic bursts, reducing her muscles to nothing. Karin smashed at the machine, strategically, so as not to break it and end Serena's life. Eventually, the outer shell fell off, exposing the core of the morpher. The entire crowd gasped.

Circuits…circuits…Serena's failed attempts at struggling were making it difficult for Karin to discern exactly which switches she needed to break. Finally, she smashed one, and Serena grunted with pain as the top half of her helmet dematerialized. Karin kept breaking switch after switch, and parts of Serena's uniform vanished. Finally, however, Karin located the master circuit between ranger and ranger spirit.

She severed it without a single thought.

Serena felt like part of her had been killed. Immobile, Serena fell back to the ground, eyes wide open. She shifted her eyes and saw the Pink Ranger standing over her. Why hadn't she just killed her? As Serena thought that, Karin disengaged her Ranger System. The Rescue Mode faded away first and downloaded itself back into the pink Spirit Morpher she wore, before the armor glowed and vanished. The stadium, absolutely silent, watched as Karin glared at Serena, and retrieved a little white flag from inside her jacket. She waved it high over her head, signaling that she was forfeiting the match. Nobody moved.

Coughing, Serena struggled to her knees. Her breathing was rasp and harsh, she could hardly get any air in her lungs. Around her, the Ranger uniform was beginning to fade, and she used all of what was left of her strength to hold it together. She heard crackling sounds from her morpher, she had but a few moments left, at most, before it finally died and she lost her powers forever.

"S-Seel," she murmured, cradling her broken morpher. It was still attached to her, but she couldn't lift the arm she wore it on, so she used her left one to raise it to her lips. What was left of her visor informed her that her stats were dropping, she didn't care. "I'm s-so s-sorry." She felt her eyes grow warm, tears were leaking out of her as she wept for the death of a Pokemon. "Th-hey were my brothers too. I-" She paused, she wished she had a hanky to blow her nose "-I didn't w-want to f-fight them either, I did it to save us! To save 0." She lowered her head, nestling the morpher against her cheek. She coughed blood and spat it onto the ground as the rest of her helmet disintegrated into nothingness.

There was still silence, like there always was. "I'm s-sorry I didn't tr-trust you, after all the-these years. I'm so-so sorry about eve-everything."

She could feel the air of the stadium on her face and her hands. She looked down to realize her gloves were gone. Slowly, the rest of her uniform was vanishing. Unlike the usual transformation, where when she reverted back to her civilian gear the armor simply glowed and vanished, this time the uniform seemed to be dying, slowly losing its color and fading away. Finally, only the emblem of a Seel on her chest remained, and it too was fading fast. She felt the wind blowing her hair.

"I forgive you." It was a tiny, frightened voice, almost like a little child's. "Good bye, Serena."

Seel.

Then the White Ranger form was gone. Serena's morpher detached itself from her wrist, fizzing and crackling as it landed on the ground, where it continued to make noise until the light inside it simply died away. Serena's eyes were full of tears as she collected it in her hands, and buried it in her chest as she cried. Around her, she heard someone announce that she had won by forfeit, but she didn't care. It was so insignificant, compared to the scared, quiet little voice that had whispered to her just before its death.

"Seel," she whispered, knowing that the Pokemon could not, and would never, hear her. "I'm so…oh, Seel!" All those years, she had thought it was angry at her, but it had been just as scared as she was. And now it was gone and it could never come back. Her head felt like such a fat lump in her chest, heavy and painful.

She returned to reality when she felt a hand press on her shoulder. She looked up and saw 0 standing behind her with her friends.

His face was so gentle, and yet so fierce. With one look to Karin, she backed away into the protective shadow of her partner, whose face was heavy with concern. May and Sarah stood at the front of the group, Sarah looked so scared while her mother held her, a look of shock on her face at what had just happened.

Behind them stood Max, the Dark Emerald hung loosely in his hand instead of around his neck, and a savage glare in his eyes. Bakaguru sighed and lowered his face so that Serena could not see his grim expression, while 415's face looked indifferent, but blurred, so Serena could not see the sadness on it. Serena turned to Karin, who was hiding behind Logan in case the entire group attacked her, but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, 0 merely helped Serena to her feet and made sure she kept a tight grip on her broken morpher.

"I think we'd better get you to the infirmary," 0 advised. "Come on, partner, the crowd's going to get annoying." He was right, at any moment the crowd was going to start hounding her with questions.

She nodded and the group surrounded her before leaving the stadium. At the door was an escort, waiting to transport Serena to make sure her vitals were fine.

"I'm okay," she insisted.

But the escort wasn't convinced. "Ma'am, I've been given instructions to take you there personally. Please get onto the gurney."

0 stepped in between the escort and Serena, and within moments they were walking past the escort, who now had a pale complexion on his face. Serena absent-mindedly followed her partner, feeling a sense of emptiness welling up inside of her. Her arm felt lighter without her morpher and her brain was only now beginning to process what that meant: she'd won the match, but only because Karin forfeited after killing any chance of her being a ranger again. Serena felt sick.

"0-" He stopped and watched as she held up her morpher to him. It would never work again. "I-"

"It can wait," he decided.

"But-"

"It can wait," he repeated firmly. "Our first priority is to make sure that you're going to be alright, 3. Everything else can wait."

He continued to lead them through the corridors until finally they came to the infirmary's twin door entrance several minutes later. "Wait out here," he asked everyone and took Serena in on his own. There she was placed on a bed and hooked up to machines to make sure she was alright. 0 waited outside the inspection room until a nurse came out.

"She's asking for you, sir," he said. "Wait here until we're finished."

0 nodded and went back inside.

Two minutes later, the medical team cleared out of the inspection room and 0 went in. Serena didn't even notice him, so he sat down in a chair next to her bed. "You feeling any better?" he asked, getting comfortable.

She shook her head. "Not particularly."

0 blew a raspberry. "Okay."

She turned towards him, her green eyes blank. "My morpher's broken, 0. I can never be a ranger again. My Pokemon is gone. And now I-" She felt the tears starting up again "-I can't be your partner anymore."

0 allowed that to sink in for a moment. "You're wrong, 3. You won the match, you get to stay as my partner. Those were the rules that the Council set up. You'll be my partner again, don't worry about that."

"I won't! Don't you get it, 0? My ranger spirit is dead. I can't bond to another one! That's not how it works!" She lowered her head and her tears dropped onto her shirt. "I can't be a ranger ever again. That means I can't be your partner."

0, slightly annoyed, hit his hand against the chair's armrest. "You don't think I don't know that, 3?" he asked. "It doesn't matter. Bakaguru's going to figure this one out, he always figures out a way to keep everything together. He can fix your morpher by giving you an Ailed Morpher, did you forget that?"

"But-"

"But nothing, 3!" 0 stood up and grabbed her hand. "This isn't like you. You're always so strong, so tough. Even with all that's happened to you, you've always stayed like that. What I want to know, 3, is why you never told me about why you can't use Rescue Mode."

She blinked and replied, "Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me, 3," 0 retorted. "We're supposed to be partners. Partners tell each other their problems. They're supposed to help each other."

Serena was astonished. "What?"

"You've always helped me when I got into trouble, 3," 0 explained. "I've always tried to help you. Why didn't you tell me how hard using the morpher was? Why didn't you tell me you weren't in synch with your ranger spirit?"

She shrugged. "I had just gotten so used to it, I didn't want to bother you about it. It's just-it's just how my Ranger System worked. I never knew what it was like to be in synch with Seel, so I guess- I guess…" She shuddered, the tears were coming back again. "And now it's gone, 0. It's gone. S-She killed it."

"We'll make sure that Karino is disciplined for that," 0 assured her. "But that's not important now. What is important is that we get you better, so that we can get you fitted out with an Ailed Morpher and fix all of this. Once you're bonded to the Ailed Morpher and we download everything from your Spirit Morpher into it, we can repair the bond between you and Seel. It's just broken now, that doesn't mean it can't be fixed."

He stood up and patted her on the head. "Relax, I've got this." He grabbed her Spirit Morpher and smiled.

"0…" she murmured.

He winked. "That's my partner," he replied and walked out.

Looking around, he found the nearest doctor. "Hey, how's my friend going to be?" he asked her, pointing his thumb at Serena's door.

She shrugged. "Depends. Physically, she's fine. I'd prefer if she doesn't have any more visitors today. A couple of broken bones, some bruises, and several cuts. We'll patch her up to make sure she'll be fine, but otherwise she'll be able to return to active duty within the next few days, though I'm going to advise she not be given any field assignments until her bones are mended."

0 nodded and thanked her before he headed out of the infirmary. Bakaguru and the others were waiting.

"How is she?" Bakaguru asked.

"Uh…" He turned to May and Sarah. "Would you mind giving us a minute? This is a private ranger thing."

May nodded. "Of course." She picked Sarah back up and the two of them began herding the others away until it was only Bakaguru and 0 standing in the corridor.

"What is it?" the engineer asked. The ranger handed him the broken morpher.

"Can this be fixed?" 0 asked.

Bakaguru glanced it over. "No, this will never work again," he replied. "How is she?"

"She'll be fine, physically," the Golden Ranger said. "But then how is she still alive? I thought that the Spirit Morphers were permanently bonded to the rangers. Kill one, kill the other."

"In theory, you are correct," Bakaguru replied. "But what Karin has done is not necessarily destroyed the Spirit Morpher, but rather sever the connection between ranger and ranger spirit." He peered through the circuits. "The Pokemon is in suspended animation at the moment, neither living nor dead." Bakaguru paused to rub his glasses, then resumed studying the morpher. "It was easy to do…Serena has never had a good connection with her ranger spirit."

"Why not?"

"I do not know that, Golden Ranger," said Bakaguru. "But she has never succeeded in activating the Rescue Mode. It's put her at a disadvantage for a long time."

0's face grew dark and he lowered his head. "Will she continue to be a ranger?" he asked. "I don't want to work with anyone else. 3 has to be my partner."

"Hmmm…" mused Bakaguru. "The designs for the Ailed Morpher will allow for a safe transfer of the ranger spirit into a new morpher," he explained, "but that's for a stable, secure morpher like yours." He held up Serena's broken Spirit Morpher and shook it lightly in his hand. "This is completely broken. It will never work again, no matter what I do. Transferring the hibernating ranger spirit from this into an Ailed Morpher would be extremely dangerous. At the best case it would be successful, but failure would be high. Trying it could kill Serena and Seel."

0 groaned and kicked the nearby wall, staring at the infirmary's doors. "What are we going to do?" he asked

"I do not know," Bakaguru said in dismay. "I will continue my research and hopefully find a stable way to help Serena. With the former Golden Ranger's research, anything could be possible."

"Is there a chance she could return to full ranger status?" 0 asked.

Bakaguru smirked. "In science, my boy, there is always a chance."

"But there will be a risk?"

"There's always a risk too."

"Excuse me?

Both men turned to notice a messenger boy standing in the hallway, dressed in formal PKM uniform gear with a collared shirt, slacks, and a tie, along with a nametag. In his right hand was an envelope, he was cradling it in a fashion that told both Bakaguru and 0 that it was probably very important.

"What do you want?" the Golden Ranger asked with a scowl on his face. "We're extremely busy right now."

The messenger boy was concerned when he noticed he was speaking to the highest ranking PKM Ranger, but remained undaunted as he produced the envelope. "I'm supposed to deliver this to the White Ranger from the Council. Do you know which ward she's in?"

0 snatched up the envelope. "I'll take it to her."

"Sir, this is for the White Ranger," he tried to explain, but a glare from 0 made him change his mind.

"She's my partner, I'll make sure she gets it," 0 retorted.

The messenger gulped. "Very good sir," he replied and saluted before bolting away speedily.

"What's this?" 0 asked. Bakaguru shrugged, so he tore opened the envelope and grabbed the letter inside. It was short, abrupt, and typed, with the insignia of the Council on the bottom. 0 read it aloud.

"_Serena Brine,_

_ This message is to inform you of your immediate dismissal from the PKM Rangers and the removal of your status as PKM Agent 3, White Ranger. You are therefore to be reassigned to the Communication Division. Your replacement will be appointed by Agent 003, Bakaguru Niwa, and will be attached as the new White Ranger and secondary partner to the May Birch case. Until your recovery from injuries sustained in battle consider yourself suspended from active duty awaiting transfer."_

0 crumbled up the letter and hurled it into the nearest trash can. Bakaguru felt quite sick to his stomach.


	21. Morph 21

**Morph Twenty-One: A Date Interrupted**

She was very beautiful. As 0 stepped from his room into the corridor, he could not help but listen to the voice that paraded through his head about how incredibly lucky he was. He smiled, nodded his head, and made sure to lock his room's door before he and May started down the walkway.

He wore casual, but tough clothes, standard for the harsh Orre weather they would be subjected to once they got out of the base. Surprisingly, he had very little in the line of casual clothes and had had to request some from the base's stores, such as a suitable jacket and a regular shirt. A pair of gloves had also been brought to him in order to help him conceal his morpher which, while to the untrained eye would look like nothing more than a common wristwatch, would undoubtedly be recognized by the thieving masses of Pyrite Town to be something more.

May, on the other hand, had had no such difficulty, in part because she had borrowed her outfit from Serena. While the top was a bit tight, she was quite happy with 0's reaction, which was to naturally fight off all temptation to stare at her. He kept his gaze straight and above her head, almost as if looking directly at her would result in him going blind from her beauty. She permitted herself a brief smile and giggled. This was a wonderful idea.

"What?" 0 asked and bent his giant mane of a head down to check what was so funny. He turned bright red and returned his gaze to normal, which only made her laugh even more.

"Oh…nothing," replied May teasingly, she was having much too much fun toying with her ex-husband. As per Serena's instructions, she had decided to wear a small top with a long shirt, resulting in May looking much the way movie stars look on the posters for films. Oh, she knew she was looking good, and she wanted to remind herself that a single mother of a five-year-old girl was capable of knocking the breath out of even the most stoic ranger in PKM.

"The exit is this way," he said in a very business-like way, leading her through the odd maze of corridors that made up PKM's base and into the vehicle hanger. He looked around for the supervising agent and, upon finding him, confirmed the rental of a hover bike for the day. The agent saluted the ranger as 0 and May boarded the machine and started the engine. 0 handed her a helmet.

"What's this for?" May asked, though she put it on.

He grinned. "You don't want to fall off this thing in the Orre desert. The sand's not as gentle here as it is at the beach," he explained.

May simply smiled and held on to him tight. 0 had the attending agents clear a path for them, and they were blasting out of the building in almost next to no time. Thankful she had kept a tight grip on the Golden Ranger, as anything less would have probably resulted in her being hurled to the ground, May squealed with delight as 0 piloted through the harsh desert, aiming for a small spec in the distance that looked like a child's model of Pyrite Town from where they were.

"That's Pyrite over there," 0 announced to May, who shifted herself on the seat to properly get a look at the town. "I wish there was a better place to go, but I was only given access to the hover bike for today. Couldn't get a chopper."

"Is there anywhere to go in Pyrite?"

He nodded. "Oh yes," he replied. "It's one of my favorite places to go. There's a big hotel, the works. If you're lucky, I might even try to win something for you at the coliseum. If we have time." The rusty little town was getting closer and 0 pressed harder on the accelerator. In minutes they arrived and disembarked quickly.

Pyrite was indeed one of 0's favorite places, mostly because it was where most PKM agents went to blow off steam, something he found incredibly ironic given the town's reputation for rough gangs. He pressed a button on the hover bike and it converted into a portable capsule in a bright flash of red light. He pocketed it, not wanting the local kids to take his transportation for a joyride.

"Come on," he said, adjusting his goggles for the bright Orre sun, "let's get going, I've got us reservations for lunch at that hotel. I figured that it would be a nice change of pace from cafeteria food." May smirked and followed him through the street.

The town, for the most part, gave off the impression that it was made of cardboard. The people, on the other hand, looked much more life-like and behaved the part. The denizens of Pyrite took it in turn to shout at May, most of them catcalls or vague suggestions about what they would like to do to her. Most of them made her blush and 0 glare angrily at the kids.

"Don't get jealous," teased May. "I promise I won't run off with one of them."

Meanwhile, 0 fingered the blue and black Pokeballs on his belt. "Corporal punishment never hurt anyone. Except for masochists." May laughed outright. 0 had to think, he felt that he was running out of amusing things to say to keep May entertained.

"Hey, quick question."

"What?"

"Do we, you know, hold hands?" May's face tuned a slight shade of red from asking and 0's brightened up like a cherry.

"That's a good question," he replied, as he tried to remember his dating etiquette, then recalling that his information was outdated by a few years from the standard. "I suppose we could. I mean, we're on a date, and it's not like it's our first date or anything."

"It sure feels like one though." May reached out her arm and 0 extended his hand nervously, until they both felt the contact of one another's fingers, which caused them to flinch their limbs back into their original positions at their sides. She smiled and looked up at 0. "Perhaps it's a bit too soon for that."

"Y-Yeah, maybe you're right," 0 agreed, scratching the back of his head with his now-extra-sensitive hand. "This feels really awkward."

"You saying that only makes it more awkward," May pointed out and they both chuckled.

0 felt something tap his shoulder, and turned around, annoyed that someone wished to distract him from May. It was someone even larger than he, a very muscular someone wearing a leather vest, displaying his incredibly vast and possibly steroid-enhanced pectorals. He grinned a massive grin below his enormous moustache, which he was scratching with his left hand, and looked down at May.

"She with you?" he asked.

0 nodded. "For today, anyway."

"Time's up, little man, I want a turn." 0 looked behind the mammoth and noticed several smaller grunts with hungry expressions, before returning his attention to the giant.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"I think it's a very good idea."

0 briefly considered the possibility of beating up the gang leader, his grunts, and anyone who had the inconsideration to interrupt his and May's date, but then decided that it would bring more people in to bug him. "Okay," he muttered and straightened his back, "what's it going to take to get you to leave us alone? I would really like to get along with my date now?"

The giant glanced down at 0, who was showing absolutely no sign of backing off, and pulled out a Poke Ball from his vest. "Well, seeing as we're in Pyrite, how's about a little match? Winner gets the lady for a nice evening on the town, courtesy of the one and only Team Snagem." His underlings seemed to agree, though most of them looked like they would prefer beating down the Golden Ranger in the old fashioned sense.

0 turned around to May. "Mind if I thrash him?"

She shook her head. "No, go right ahead. But if you lose, you'd better be ready to face the consequences."

0 grinned. "This'll be cake. Let's do this."

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As 0 quickly discovered, the battle with the Snagem leader was not going to be cake. Hundreds of people surrounded him as he made his way down to the stadium floor. May simply smiled, this was just like 0: getting in way over his head.

"Honestly, what is with men's needs to fight each other?" she asked, sighing. "At least in Contests there's beauty involved."

"Well, May, I kind of like fighting," he replied. "It's been keeping you alive for the past couple of months, hasn't it?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Absolutely nothing, dear," he muttered and walked out into the blinding sunlight. The crowd cheered, and he was reminded all too well of his battle with Logan. "This'll be over soon enough, if we're lucky we can still make our reservations at the hotel…" He retrieved both his Poke Balls, it felt weird not fighting with Pi.

"You'll do fine," said a knowing voice in his ear and 0 smiled. His partner was still with him.

"Go, Lu, Tork!" 0 ordered and tossed both balls out into the arena. They exploded in flashing red lights and the balls returned to him as his powerhouse Pokemon emerged from their containers. Lu, in its adult form, was very excited, and its arms radiated with glowing Aura. Tork blasted steam from its nostrils and stamped on the ground, quite happy to be let outside in the fresh air.

Both of them approached their trainer. "Okay, guys," 0 muttered, "I know we haven't fought a regular battle for a long time, but I figure we should do alright here. Trust me, and trust your instincts, and we should be fine." Both Pokemon agreed earnestly. "Tork, you tank in the back, and offer defense support for Lu. Lu, go offense and be ready for assists from Tork. Got it?" They nodded. "I've got a lot riding on this, I never thought I'd have to protect my reputation in front of May again."

Lu placed its paw on Tork's shoulder. "_Cario, Lu_," it muttered and Tork nodded its head. They wouldn't let him down. They turned around, and waited for what was to be summoned by the Snagem commander.

The commander grinned, and hurled out two Poke Balls into the arena. A Crobat exploded from one, and a Heracross from the other. The Crobat circled around, its purple wings flapping proudly by its master's side, while the Bug Type simply waited, pawing at the ground with its thin blue arms.

The Snagem member sneered. "Tear 'em to shreds!" he ordered, pointing his finger at 0's Pokemon.

0 smirked. "Let's do it! _Cario, Rio! Tork, Torkoal!_"

The Heracross charged first, its head glowing with energy as it prepared its Megahorn attack. Instead of attacking, Lu simply leapt up onto Tork's shell, and began charging up its arms to unleash a powerful Metal Claw attack. But before Heracross could reach either of 0's Pokemon, Tork flexed its muscles and projected a powerful Protect sphere around itself and its battle partner. The Heracross bounced off and Tork canceled its Protect immediately to let Lu burst out and strike the Heracross' vulnerable back with its glowing paws. The Bug Pokemon shrieked, but Lu wasn't quite finished with it yet. Grabbing the fallen Pokemon, Lu proceeded to wail on its tender, exposed hide, until finally the Heracross had enough and took to the skies with Crobat, preventing 0's ground-based Pokemon from following.

"Oh, that's lovely," muttered 0, rethinking his strategy. Lu and Tork didn't waver, operating on instinct as their trainer came up with the next plan.

"Heracross, do a Megahorn again! Crobat, Supersonic!" commanded the Snagem member with a triumphant smile.

0 clenched his fists. "_Tork! Cario, Lucario!_"

Both Pokemon moved instantly. Tork dived into its shell, shielding itself from the sonar blasts through its thick hide. 0's Lucario rushed forward to meet the Heracross head on, nimbly dodging the sonic bursts as they followed it across the coliseum battleground. Lu leapt up, covering its entire body in Endure's amber energy. It collided with Heracross, and they both smashed into the ground. Unfortunately, the Snagem member was too late, and Crobat faithfully followed its orders, blasting Heracross with Supersonic and missing Lu, who was spared thanks to Heracross' protection. It got up and, despite being a full foot shorter than the Bug, placed Heracross in a half-nelson grab and positioned the Bug directly in front of Tork.

0 grinned. "_Torkoal, Torkoal!_"

On cue, the turtle poked its head out of its shell and took a deep breath. Then it unleashed an Overheat, scorching Heracross. Lu held the Pokemon firmly, though it too received a portion of damage from the strike, until finally Tork ceased its assault and Heracross fell to the ground, knocked out.

The crowd felt that it was now an appropriate time to cheer.

0 grinned, and pointed to himself as he looked on at Mr. Team Snagem, whose expression of disbelief was priceless as he recalled his Bug, leaving the Crobat to face Lu and Tork's assault. "Time for the finale, sucker!" he cackled, he hadn't been in a good match for a long time! "_Cario! Oal!_"

Tork took another deep breath, blasting the surrounding air with a Flamethrower. Crobat swept easily through the flames, so the Torkoal kept up the blast, waiting for Lu to charge up its Aura Sphere. The giant Crobat kept flying around and Mr. Team Snagem couldn't think of a good counterattack. Time was running out for the bat…

"Go!" ordered 0.

Lu opened its eyes, its entire body seething with Aura and leapt up into the air, a feat accomplished only due to its youth and smaller body. Working with Tork, it moved in on Crobat, and blasted Aura Spheres around to fly towards and latch onto the bat. With the additional weight, the bat's four wings could no longer support its body and it began to plummet to the ground. Lu pummeled it with Aura Spheres from behind, making it impossible for the bat to retaliate. When they finally landed on the ground, Lu lightly jumped up, and smashed into the bat with its legs.

Then Tork got up.

Crobat didn't even see it coming, mostly because it was flat on the ground, its eyes staring into the rocky earth of the coliseum floor, and it didn't have the strength to fly again, since Lu had taken the time to attack its wing's joints, so naturally it did very little but wait as Tork leapt up at breakneck speed and smashed into it with a Body Slam. After a few moments to ensure that the bat would not be getting back up again, the giant Torkoal, almost the bat's rival in size and more than so in weight, got up, dusted itself off, and quietly paced over to where its trainer was standing, a look of satisfaction on both their faces as 0 patted its head.

"_Torkoal, Tork_," 0 said, praising its performance. It was so large now, the ground rumbled just a little each time it took a step. The average Torkoal was only a little over a foot tall, Tork's neck reached well over four feet high. At the same time, Lu was bouncing back in their direction, still displaying some of the traits from when it was a Baby Pokemon. _"Cario, Lu_," the Golden Ranger told it, the Lucario had done well in its first real Pokemon battle since evolution.

Lu barked its approval and looked up to Tork, who nodded sagely at its performance. There were even some tears of pride leaking from the turtle's face and the three shared a laugh, though Lu mostly did so out of mimicking its trainer, as 0 and Tork recalled the memories of emotional waterworks from Tork's old days.

He was about to walk out of the arena, since he and Mr. Team Snagem had only agreed on one two Pokemon match, but felt the giant grab his shoulder. As he turned, 0 noticed the look of extreme displeasure on the other's face, and realized that he cared very little.

"What?" asked 0, holding up a hand to stop his Pokemon from attacking his opponent. "I did the fight, so let me go. I'm going to lose my reservation if I stay much longer."

"I don't think so," growled the man.

0 narrowed his brows and flexed his muscles. "Take your hands off me now, or you'll be sorry."

The Snagem leader did not like being threatened. "Listen you-"

He did not finish his sentence, because an instant later a jolt of electricity coursed through 0's body and shocked the gang leader. He cried out in pain and was thrown back to the ground. May, who stood only a few feet away, gasped in shock, and even 0 looked a little surprised.

"What was that?" the Snagem leader asked angrily, hauling himself back to his feet. This time though, he wisely kept his distance.

"Just a little static shock," 0 replied, "don't be a baby about it." He turned to May and offered a warm smile. "Come on, I think we're done here." She agreed and the two headed out.

The Snagem member, surrounded by his subordinates, looked down at his hand, and swore that he saw it spark again. "What…is that guy?" he asked. The look on his face suggested he wasn't going to give up finding out.

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The atmosphere was tense.

The Golden Ranger stared intensely at the menu, and dug deep into the recesses of his memory to retrieve the extremely vital information he was searching for. It was impossible that he had forgotten! Across from him, May watched with an almost amused expression and, directly beside him, stood the waiter, who was growing slightly impatient and kept shifting his weight from one foot to another while he waited for 0 to order.

"Sir, could you-" The boy wisely stopped talking, as 0 lifted his head over the menu and delivered a glare that could silence a Primeape.

"Noodles," 0 decided, and handed the boy the menu. "For the lady. I will have a beer."

"Sir, this is a five star restaurant, surely you would like something fancier than a mere cup of noodles!"

0 turned to May, and shrugged. "She loves noodles, so bring her some soba noodles. And be snappy about it." He tossed a few bills at the waiter, who practically skipped in the direction of the kitchen to prepare the order.

"I can't believe you remember something like that," May said, a slight tinge of red across her cheeks.

He nodded, thankful that he had guessed correctly.

"So…"

"So…"

Both of them blushed slightly, now that they had sat down there was no escape from the inevitable conversation they both knew they had to have. "I guess I should let you ask me some questions, let you get an idea of what I've been doing. So, if you have anything you'd like to ask me, I'm willing to answer."

"Oh, okay," said May and thought about it for a while. "Well, how long have you been an…agent in PKM?"

"Five years," 0 replied. "I joined it a few months after Sarah was born. The old Golden Ranger and I made an agreement that let me operate as an agent and continue to live a civilian life. When we…divorced, I went to work for them full time. There was nothing more for me to do, and I needed something that gave my life meaning."

May nodded. "And all those trips you took?"

"Missions that PKM had me go on," 0 explained. "I was considered a high flyer, and got promoted. I once almost became the White Ranger, but that's a whole other story."

May nodded thoughtfully. "I see," she murmured. "How did you get recruited in the first place?"

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said. "I ran into the old Golden Ranger and helped in. Because I was exposed to a bunch of secrets, I was given the choice to work for PKM or face incarceration for my own protection. I chose PKM so I could stay with you and Sarah."

May nodded, digesting the knowledge. "Then, why didn't you just tell me? Instead of leaving, why couldn't you trust me with what you were going through?"

0 gave a half-smile. "To be honest, May, it was for your own protection. I was in deep with PKM and I couldn't bear to get you involved like I was. When we had that last fight, I just didn't want you to have to deal with knowing what I was doing." He reached out his hand and squeezed her fingers. "I didn't want any more burdens being put on your soul. Plus, PKM would have flipped and taken us all into custody."

May giggled, though her face was somber. "You let me hate you for three years, 0. To protect me? How am I supposed to feel about that?"

"I don't know the answer to that question, May," he said, lowering his head. "I'm not you."

The waiter brought the soba noodles and the beer, but neither was touched.

"I don't know whether to hate you for keeping all of this a secret, or love you for trying to protect us from it," she admitted. "At least Sarah is happy."

"That's something I wanted to ask you about."

"What?"

"Sarah," 0 said. "Why didn't you ever tell her who her father was? Why did you keep me a secret for so long?"

"0..." May sighed and looked out the window. "I don't know. I'd like to say that it was because, deep down, I believed that it was just a dream, and one day you'd come back to me, but it was probably the mean, spiteful part of me that made me do that. Sarah was the one person you wanted, and the one person I couldn't let you have. I had already lost my husband, I didn't want to lose my daughter too."

The Golden Ranger opened his beer and took a swig. "We need to…come to some sort of compromise. Now that we both know what really happened, I want to take some steps for the future. For Sarah's sake, and for ours." May nodded in agreement. "Now, you know my feelings. I want to be a father to Sarah again, and I also want to be your friend, May."

"My friend?"

"I know it's unreasonable to ask you to forgive me completely, and to take me back. I do want to be with you, May. With all my heart I do. But I don't know what you want, so I'll respect your own decision on the future of our relationship. But I'm fine with you as a friend, May. I want you back in my life again, in whatever small way you're willing to let me back in as."

"Dummy…"

0 looked up. "Huh?"

"You giant idiot…" May felt her eyes grow wet, but didn't care. "All this time, I've thought that there was no room for me in your life, that you'd moved on and settled down with Serena. I just-" She shook her head and smiled. "It's good to know that, at least."

"Good to know what?"

She smirked. "That your inability to understand women remains intact."

"Excuse me."

Both turned, and saw in astonishment that the Snagem commando had returned. 0 groaned, the guy was really starting to get on his nerves, then he noticed something. Specifically, the chain hanging by his arm, carrying what appeared to be a massive black gem, a giant Dark Onyx! 0 clenched his fists.

"May," he muttered, reaching for his morpher, "get out of here."

"Don't you dare move!" shouted the Snagem leader, brandishing a Poke Ball in both of his hands. "Tyranitar, Garchomp!" Both Poke Balls exploded and two giant Pokemon emerged, both emitting powerful auras. "I think everyone's staying right where they are, you annoying little runt."

He strode up to 0's table. "Get up, punk," he ordered. "I want to see if you're so tough in front of two of Team Snagem's most powerful Pokemon, and this little toy!" He lifted the Dark Onyx and dangled it in front of the Golden Ranger's face. "You see what this is? You know what it does?"

0 gulped. "I have a fairly good idea, tubby," he replied, then turned to May. "Listen, head out and powder your nose. This'll be all over before you can break out your makeup bag." May nodded and stood up to leave.

She took two steps before the Snagem leader screamed, freezing her in her tracks. "I said don't move!" he ordered.

"May, run!" 0 shouted. The urgency in his voice prompted her to run, and the Golden Ranger tackled the giant man to the ground, keeping him from issuing any orders immediately. May almost got away too…then…

"Tyranitar, Shadow Wave!" he screeched. Obeying, the Pokemon inhaled deeply and blasted May with a sickly wave of evil power. She shrieked, as the attack caught up with her, and fell to the ground.

The Snagem leader cackled and pushed 0 off him. "Well, that'll make her easier to carry back to the lair," he muttered as an afterthought. Then he turned towards 0, upon which he felt a slight chill run down his shoulder.

0 wasn't just angry. Oh no, to say that about him would be to give his feelings the most mildest description. 0 was furious. His head was lowered, his teeth gritted against one another as he ground them in frustration…his muscles were tight and easily visible because his anger was causing them to bulge. His veins became noticeable on his skin and his hands were clenched to the point that his white knuckles were visible.

"You," he growled, "are going to die."

And then he roared murder at the man. His morpher gleamed, and a golden fire crackled to life around him, resonating with his fury. The Snagem leader stepped back, as all the light in the room seemed to fade away, as it was sucked into the vortex of 0's golden flames. Sparks flew from within it and 0 grinned.

"W-What are you?" he demanded to know. 0 just kept smiling.

"Your nightmare," was his reply, and then he screamed once more as his transformation began.

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The transformation was different this time, 0 sensed that much.

As he roared, the morpher strapped to his wrist glowed bright gold and his body was instantly covered with the black under armor that made up most of his uniform. The golden parts, his gloves, boots, chest plate, back, belt, and visor, came last, clamping down and strapping into position as his systems came online. The golden fire that surrounded him dispersed and his visor gleamed as Pi took control of the uniform.

"0, what's happening?" the Pikachu asked, running a suit diagnostic. "How'd you do that without activating the morpher or using the morphing call?"

0 shrugged. "That's a good question, let's answer it once we've dealt with this little piggy." He stood his ground, the Bolt Blade clenched in his hand. Across from him, Snagem boy growled, turning towards his Shadow Pokemon and snickered.

"That explains it…you're a ranger, just like that guy said!" he screeched. "Now I'll show you what it means to have power! Get him, my Shadow Pokemon!"

The Tyranitar roared, blasting air through the hotel and throwing people to the floor. Beside it, the Garchomp howled with rage and began stomping its way in the direction of 0.

"This is not good," decided 0 firmly. While he probably had the strength to engage the Shadow Pokemon in battle, the giant Dark Onyx that the Snagem leader was using complicated matters. "Pi, stats report."

"Both Pokemon are generating high-level energy," the Pikachu reported. "And their Shadow Pokemon status only helps their strength. From the looks of it, both Pokemon are probably in Hyper Mode, so be careful."

0 groaned. "That's just great. Open up communications with 003, I'm going to need backup if the situation worsens." He didn't know how a Dark Gem would influence Pokemon and he didn't really want to.

"0, lead them outside. They're after you, they'll be less casualties if we go elsewhere," Pi pointed out. 0 nodded and shouldered his blade.

"Hey, ugly!" shouted 0, turning his attention onto the Snagem commander. "How's about you come get me? I'm tired to standing around staring at your drooling mug!"

His opponent did not seem to take kindly to the statement. His face reddened and his mouth wobbled from sheer anger. Clearly he was not a man accustomed to being defied. "Get him! Shadow Rush!"

The two monsters roared, stomping on the ground and rushing towards the Golden Ranger. Instead of fighting, though, the ranger simply vanished with the command "_Go!_" He reappeared a few feet behind the Pokemon and used their rushing momentum in conjuncture with his sword to smash both into a wall. "I'm over here, Slowpokes!" he shouted and waved his sword as the Pokemon unearthed themselves from the wall.

"Get him!" Mr. Snagem snarled, but that was all he could say before the Golden Ranger decided to make things just a little bit more personal and grabbed him by the neck.

"Let's see how far you can fly," the Golden Ranger muttered and hurled him out of the second-storey window. Like obedient Pokemon, the Tyranitar and Garchomp jumped out after him and 0 turned his attention to the woman on the ground. "May, are you alright?" He picked her up and opened his visor. Her eyes flickered, but she roused herself from unconsciousness and looked up at him.

"0?" she asked, somewhat out of it. "What's going on? Weren't we talking?"

He nodded. "Slight change of plans. Snagem thought it would be a good idea to bother us." He looked out the empty window, there was no way the Snagem leader was too hurt, especially if he had the giant Dark Onyx. That would patch him up in no time at all. "May, I need to hide you somewhere, they'll be coming back with more Shadow Pokemon soon."

"No."

"What do you mean, no?" 0 asked. "This isn't a game, he's here for us! I need to lead him away!"

"No, I'm tired of being separated from you, 0." She was babbling, 0 saw in her eyes that she was disorientated, it was possible that she had a concussion too. "I want to face him together, with both of us side by side." Her eyes were fluttering again, 0 wondered if she was really hurt. The back of her head was bleeding, but otherwise she seemed fine…

So why was he so worried?

"Okay," he muttered. "Pi, call 003. I officially am going to need help."

"Roger. Distress signal has been sent. Enemy is coming back, this time with multiple Shadow Pokemon, and I think…no, I'm sure of it! He's got Rangerlings, just like Sappho did!"

Pi was right. As the Snagem leader strode back into the room, he was flanked by eight or ten Rangerlings, almost the number of subordinates he had been followed by earlier. Had he turned his friends into Rangerlings just to fight? 0 gritted his teeth and his visor clamped down again over his face. "That's disgusting," he said to himself.

The Rangerlings chattered amongst themselves, as they always did. This time, though, 0 noticed that instead of one Dark Onyx on their chest, all of them had two, one on each of their shoulders. "Oh, this is bad," muttered 0, readying the Bolt Blade to begin battle. In addition to the Garchomp and Tyranitar from earlier, the Snagem commander also had a Charizard and a Machamp standing ready behind him, all four Pokemon with dark, soulless eyes glaring down on the Golden Ranger.

"Bad," 0 muttered. "Very bad."

"Get him!" roared the Snagem leader. "Shadow Rush!"

Holding May in his arms, 0 ran straight out of the window, leaping through the air thanks to the energy his suit was supplying to his legs. He landed nimbly on the rooftop outside, ignoring the pain as his legs received part of the landing's shock and turned around to look through the window. The Snagem leader, furious, was ordering his Pokemon after the Golden Ranger, away from the crowds.

"Now all I need is a safe place to hide you, May," 0 grumbled, this relationship business was a lot of work! He wished he still had Serena to back him up, or anyone for that matter. "Pi, status report. Where's the backup?"

"I'm patching you through to 003 now," it announced. A moment later, the communication opened.

"0, what's going on down there?" demanded a frustrated Bakaguru.

"Rangerlings and Shadow Pokemon," replied the Golden Ranger. "It looks like the Dark Gem Rangers handed somebody a giant Dark Onyx and he's going to town. And it doesn't help that he's after my date!" He looked down, May was looking worse. "He hurt her."

"How badly?"

"She might have a concussion, and she's bleeding from her head," 0 muttered. He started moving and jumped down into the alley, wincing as his feet collided with the ground. "She's not very lucid, she'll probably need to see a doctor when we get back. Where are 1 and 5? I asked for backup!"

"On their way, they should be arriving in a few minutes. Unfortunately, they'll be all I can offer. We haven't decided on a new White Ranger."

"What about Max?"

"He's not deemed fit to enter combat yet."

"Damn!" 0 cursed. His tracking system indicated he was about to be discovered. "Just get 1 and 5 here now! I don't have time to screw around!"

"Okay, I'll tell them to hurry-"

Bakaguru was cut off, as 0 let off a blood-curling screech of agony and dropped to the ground, clutching his head. Something was attacking him, something horrible. May collapsed on him and was jolted awake.

"0?" she asked, noticing that he was starting to curl into the fetal position. "0! What's going on?" Ignoring her own pain, she grabbed the ranger and pushed him up into a sitting position against the wall. "What's wrong?"

"S-Serum…" he gasped, realizing what the problem was. "N-Need serum n-now…" He groaned, forced to ride through the immense pain as his body shouted its addictive need for the drug that kept it awake, alert, and now alive.

"What serum?" May asked.

"K-Keeps my body w-working," he explained. "N-No night-nightmares."

And he fell again to the ground, this time contorting in agony. His body needed the drug now, otherwise it would begin to shut down. He barely heard May's shriek as they were discovered and the Shadow Charizard's roar as it began to advance, Rangerlings dancing around its lizard body.

Then the cavalry came charging in.

The Red and Pink Rangers leapt from their motorcycle. Logan, flashing a salute, proceeded to tear through the Rangerlings, while Karin concentrated on the much larger Charizard. Eventually, the Red Ranger made it to May and placed himself before the onslaught of powerful Rangerlings.

"Hey, May," he said. "What's with Golden Boy? He's looking a little green around the gold."

"There's something wrong with him!" she explained. "He says he needs some sort of serum. Do you have any idea what he's talking about?"

Logan kicked a Rangerling back. "Sort of. The guru's got a secret serum used for combat missions. It's used to keep agents awake and alert throughout, but it's not meant for long-term missions. Golden Boy takes it all the time, so he effectively doesn't sleep. His body's probably going through withdrawal." He batted away another little imp. "We should probably ask someone to send some in." He put his hand to his helmet. "003, I need some serum delivered ASAP. Oh, and a hot dog too. Maybe a pizza if you have some time." A pause, while Logan listened to Bakaguru's response. "Nope, 0's down and he needs some fast. And I wasn't kidding about that hot dog!"

He smashed into a Rangerling and activated his Sake Scissors with a request to his ranger spirit. The sword-like claws extended from his forearms and the Red Ranger dove into the fray. "He's on it, May! My partner will escort you the rest of the way to safety!" He reached Karin, who was having problems with the Charizard. "Baby, this is more my tempo, why don't you fall back and take her to safety?" Karin complied with the order, flipping back to grab May and, as he was currently useless, 0 too, on both her shoulders and started running away. Logan covered their retreat as the horde began to descend on the alley.

A man with an absurd moustache walked up with his Shadow Pokemon and Rangerlings, surprised to see a Red Ranger instead of a golden one. "Where'd the girl go, Red boy?" he snarled, obviously quite mad indeed.

"Good question, tubby," replied Logan with a shrug, pointing one of his blades at the man's gut. "I'd say in your stomach, where all mobile things must naturally head around you, but then you'd know where they were! Specifically, somewhere between your stomach and small intestine."

The Snagem leader flushed red. "I'll kill you!"

Logan wagged his finger. "Not if you eat me first, right?" His opponent screamed in rage.

"Kill him! Tear him to pieces!"

"I thought fat guys were supposed to be jolly," murmured Logan in dismay. "And I was about to ask him what I wanted for Christmas too."

Reluctantly, he dove into the fray.

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Bakaguru considered his options.

On one hand, he could simply allow 0 to die. On the other, it was probably a good idea to rescue the Golden Ranger, so he had summoned Serena, 415, and Max to see what could be done. After some persuasion, he had managed to pry Sarah away from her uncle and into the arms of her devoted grandparents, so he had the full attention of all three.

"What," he said, pacing in front of a vial of serum on his work table, "are we going to do?"

Serena was the first to respond. "I can go take it to him," she suggested.

Bakaguru shook his head. "Out of the question, Serena. First, you are not a ranger anymore." He held up his hand as she opened her mouth to respond. "I am working on that, but for now we must accept the fact that you are no longer a member of the PKM Rangers. To expose you to this kind of danger, especially without a Ranger uniform, is completely unsafe and I will not do it. Plus, you are still recovering from you injuries." He turned to the other woman in the room. "I would send 415, but I want 0 to live. Besides, she has to stay behind since she has the Golden Gauntlets."

Unenthusiastically, 415 dangled the devices from her hands without much gusto.

"That leaves Max," the engineer muttered and pushed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose. "Max in the most suitable person, despite being our least likely source of help."

"Why is that?" Max asked, feeling a slight twinge of anger.

"Because you are still inexperienced in handling your Dark Emerald," explained the otaku. "That is the simple fact, Max. Despite the progress you have been making, the fact remains that you are unfit to be released yet. And yet I have no choice but to send you in if I want 0 to live." He rubbed his brow. "The Council is going to kill me, but I need you, Max. Can I count on you?"

Max nodded, grabbing his Dark Emerald. "We're ready," he said and the gem glowed eagerly. It had been a while since it had been given a chance to play. "What do you want me to do?"

Bakaguru handed Max the vial of serum. "Give this to 0, he'll be able to inject it into his body and recover. Transform into your Dark Gem Ranger mode to make sure you survive the trip."

Max closed his hands around the vial. "What do you mean, 'survive the trip'?" he asked suspiciously.

Bakaguru grinned, and pulled out a small remote control from inside his lab coat. When he pressed one of the buttons, the ceiling above began opening up and the floors nearby gave way, revealing a massive machine below. "A new toy from Jessie and James," he explained. "It's a prototype to launch these giant things that the two of them are designing with Meowth, but for now we can use it to launch you to Pyrite. Being the Dark Emerald Ranger, you should have no problem surviving it. Just keep the vial safe and your Dark Emerald should home in on the Golden Ranger."

"Good plan." Max knew Bakaguru was right, for some reason the Dark Emerald was willing to obey the Golden Ranger in all circumstances, ever since he had freed both Max and the Dark Gem from the confusion they had been induced with by Sappho. "But what if I lose control?"

"My advice would be to not do that," Bakaguru offered. "Transform and I'll prepare the launch."

Max nodded and climbed into the thing. True to Bakaguru's word, the machine looked like it was built for launching something massive. There was a platform where whatever it was going to be would be loaded onto, so Max got onto that and tucked the serum vial into his pocket, knowing it would be safer inside the Dark Emerald Ranger's armor.

"Max!" shouted a voice from below. Max wrapped his chains around his arms and looked down. It was Serena.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Bring him back safe, okay?" Serena said. "Him and May both."

Max nodded and raised his thumb. "Count on it, Serena!" he said and pressed the Dark Emerald into his flesh. "_Dark Gem Ignite!_"

Max exploded with green light as his body, mind, and soul merged with the Dark Emerald, creating the somewhat-reformed Dark Emerald Ranger. The beast looked down on the group below, but thought little of them and remained standing where it was, sensing that it needed to go and help their master, the Golden Ranger. A few moments later, Bakaguru finished the launch preparations and the dark ranger braced himself, sensing he was about to go airborne.

Then he left the ground and blasted off through the air. To prevent wind resistance, the Dark Emerald whispered, and the ranger straightened his body to preserve the momentum of flying through the air. Desert whisked by below him. In next to no time, he spotted a rundown town coming his way and the Dark Emerald whispered that the Golden Ranger was below.

The Dark Emerald Ranger tucked his arms and legs together and curled up into a ball as he descended, finally landing by blasting through what appeared to be a very nice hotel's wall and found himself in a room occupied by two nude people: a man with a ring on the fourth finger of his left hand and another man without one. Thinking little of their screams, the Dark Emerald Ranger waited for the majority of his bones to pop back into place and mend.

"What is it…?" one of the men, the one without the ring, asked in a very high voice. The Dark Emerald whispered to its partner, very annoyed by their interruption of its body healing.

The other, the one with the ring, slowly approached the Dark Emerald Ranger, covering himself in a blanket from the bed. "Don't know," was his reply, in a very thick Orre dialect. "Looks like a guy, but it's all twisted and messed up."

"Should we call room service?" suggested the other. The Dark Emerald was thankful it had almost finished healing its partner, both agreed that the men were highly annoying.

"No, you idiot!" shouted ring-man. "What if they find you here? We gotta get outta here right now!" Quickly, he scrambled for his clothes, and the other man eventually did the same, though with a slight bit of reluctance. The Dark Emerald whispered to its partner that they could walk again, so the dark ranger untangled himself from the ground and stood up.

Both men screamed in a very girlish way as the ranger began making his way across the room in the direction the Dark Emerald said the Golden Ranger was. As he reached the door, and smashed down what was left of it, he sensed someone moving behind him. He turned suddenly, crouching in preparation to fight, but stopped when he noticed it was only the harmless ring-man, who this time had wrapped the cloth around his waist. His hands were together and the Dark Emerald sensed something extremely pitiable about the ring-man's stance.

"You're not-you're not gonna tell anyone, are ya?" he asked, staring at the floor with an aura of shame about him. The Dark Emerald Ranger responded by punting him across the room into the sole undamaged wall in the room, creating a great crack as the man fell back onto the bed. The man without a ring watched this and looked up at the dark ranger.

"Thanks, he needed that," he said.

The Dark Emerald Ranger, unsure of why he was being thanked, decided to listen to the Dark Gem's suggestion to leave. With a slight growl of indifference, he rushed down the hallway and followed the Golden Ranger's aura. From behind, he heard the distinct sound of shrieking, possibly because the two men had been discovered by the service staff of the hotel.

The ranger conferred with his gem again, and it was decided that the men were both very annoying.

He burst out through a window that had already been broken for some reason and onto a nearby rooftop thanks to the aid of one of his chains. From there, he noticed that a fight was going on in an alley below, but didn't go near it. Neither of them cared about the fight because their master wasn't there. Both kept moving, the ranger following the advice from his Dark Emerald, until finally they reached a position several blocks down from the battle, where the Golden Ranger was being tended to by a familiar woman…her name was definitely May, and another person in pink that neither ranger nor gem cared about.

They dove down into the group, astonishing May and the pink person, who leapt up to battle the Dark Emerald Ranger, but after a moment stepped back, as if commanded by a third party to not intervene. The dark ranger made his way to the Golden Ranger and reached up to his chest. A vial of liquid appeared from inside his clothes and he handed it to the gasping paladin. The Golden Ranger took it, muttered some sort of thanks, and injected the liquid into his bloodstream. Within moments he stopped shaking and within a minute he was back on his feet. Though taller than the Dark Emerald Ranger, the paladin's visor held its gaze on the dark ranger's, and the Dark Emerald sensed a thanking aura from the golden man.

"Thanks," said the Golden Ranger. "I knew they'd finally let you out." He touched the side of his helmet and began speaking to someone that wasn't there. "Yes, he made it," said the Golden Ranger. "Oh, okay. Yes, I'll make sure he's returned in one piece. Understood." He switched off the communications and turned to May.

"Bakaguru says his unofficial designation is AX6," 0 explained. "Auxiliary Ranger 6: Dark Emerald."

May smiled and turned to the Dark Emerald Ranger with pride. "Oh, congratulations, Max!" she exclaimed and threw her arms around the dark ranger in a hug. The Dark Emerald Ranger, for reasons neither ranger nor gem understood, tolerated this for a few seconds, then pried May off and turned to 0.

"_Gallade, Lade_," hissed the dark ranger. It wanted to fight.

The Golden Ranger nodded. "Good idea, let's go help 1." He turned to the pink one, who was simply awaiting her orders like a puppet. The Dark Emerald chuckled at her. "You're coming too," he decided, then turned to May. "May, I need you to find a place to hide." He took out something from his belt and handed it to her. "This is a com-link, it'll let you keep in touch with us. Okay?"

May nodded and took the com-link, holding onto the hand 0 offered it on for just a little too much longer than the Dark Emerald Ranger was willing to tolerate. He growled and the two separated awkwardly, each holding the other's gaze, until 0 snapped back to reality and started running down the alley. The pink one followed him by only a few footsteps. The Dark Emerald Ranger looked towards May one final time, nodded in satisfaction, then leapt back onto the rooftops to follow 0 and Pinky from a different route.

They reached the fight quickly and the three rangers dove into the fray. The Golden Ranger, his sword in hand, swept through the ranks of the black chattering Rangerlings, filthy users of common Dark Onyx, battering them down with single strikes of the dull side of his blade. Pinky leapt through the ranks, ignoring everything until she finally came to the side of a lone red warrior fighting off the masses, helping him cave a bigger hole in the group.

The Dark Emerald Ranger saw people worth fighting. It leapt into the fray, knocking down a Machamp with its knee as it landed on the Pokemon. The ranger roared in triumph, and leapt off before the Pokemon could recover. The Dark Emerald whispered that there were three other Pokemon nearby and none of them had the right aura for a Pokemon, they all felt too evil.

Neither ranger nor gem cared very much, they were too busy having fun!

A Rangerling wound up caught in their web, as the Dark Emerald Ranger growled and wrapped his right gauntlet's chain around its body, dragging it towards him. He jerked the chain, and the Rangerling, and threw it to the ground. He howled and leapt up, crushing the Rangerling with the full force of his boots. Despite this, it somehow survived and thrashed about until the dark ranger lost his balance and was forced to hop off its body in a highly undignified manner. He retracted his chain and retreated to the Golden Ranger's position.

"_Laaaaaade, Gallaaa_," growled the dark ranger, assisting the paladin in clearing some breathing space.

"I know," replied the ranger, growing tired of heaving his sword everywhere. "For some reason, these Rangerlings are much tougher and harder to kill. They have two Dark Onyxes instead of one, I think that's why." 0 looked around, searching for something. "There!" He pointed into the crowd, and made sure the Dark Emerald Ranger saw what he was looking at. "You see that man, with the giant moustache?" The dark ranger followed the man's finger and noticed there was a man with something growing out of his upper lip. "He's got a giant Dark Onyx controlling all of them. If we can reach him, we might stand a chance at ending the fight, since all of these things are under his control. Go get him and bring him to me! But don't kill him, we need to find out where his Dark Gems came from!"

The Dark Emerald Ranger nodded and jumped up into the air, latching onto a nearby store's roof with his chain and hoisting himself up. Fortunately, the moustache man was standing by the sidelines, doing little but jeering and watching his minions fight for him. Finding this extremely unfair, the Dark Emerald whispered to its partner a fun way to get some payback, which the ranger readily agreed to.

They got into position, careful not to let anyone see, above the man with the lip hair, and slowly reached down a chain, taking ever so much care not to alert the man to their presence. The chain wrapped around his giant, plump body like velvet, with the man hardly noticing what was going on. It was not until one of the chattering Rangerlings saw it and pointed out what was going on, that he took notice. But by then it was too late, and the Dark Emerald Ranger dashed down to the ground and tightened his grip on the tub of lard he had been asked to capture and growled.

"Call off your army or my friend gets to play with you!" shouted the Golden Ranger to the Dark Gem Ranger's plaything.

The fat man's thinking process lasted roughly two seconds, before he shrieked, "Everyone fall back immediately!" in a tone of voice that would have even the most cowardly man in Orre mocking him. All of the Rangerlings did as ordered, but the Shadow Pokemon only considered it briefly before resuming their rampage. They were unstoppable and would have to be taken down before they would halt.

The Dark Emerald Ranger discarded the man, finding him useless, and dove back into the battle. The man hit his head on a wall and slumped into unconsciousness. The Dark Emerald Ranger hardly noticed it, unleashing his chains on the Tyranitar and binding it in place. The Pokemon roared in anger, but that only made the dark ranger tighten his chains. It was beginning to lose the ability to breathe, which was fine with the dark ranger. Anything for a fight.

The Dark Emerald whispered, and the ranger obeyed, leaping through the air and jumping onto the spines of the Tyranitar's back, wrapping more of his chain around its neck. Once they were secure, the ranger leapt off the thrashing Pokemon and, using the majority of his strength, brought the massive Pokemon down to its knees.

Soon after, it lapsed into unconsciousness, and only then did the Dark Emerald Ranger remove the chains.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

The Golden Ranger grinned, the odds were in his favor.

The four rangers worked as one to take down the last three Shadow Pokemon. The Rangerlings were gone, making the work much easier to do. While Logan and 0 concentrated on the Charizard, Karin was fighting Garchomp and Max was putting the finishing touches on the Machamp. All was going as planned.

"So, how'd your date go?" Logan asked, blocking one of the Charizard's wings.

0 dodged the fiery breath from its gaping mouth. "Not too bad, until all this started. Why can't evil just take a few hours break for us?"

Logan laughed and smashed into the Charizard with 0, using their combined momentum to take it down. "I hear that!" he shouted, as it was hard to hear him over the lizard's angry roars. "Every time 5 and I go out, there's always something taking over the world that needs our pressing attention."

"I thought you and 5 never went out," 0 pointed out.

"Oh yeah," muttered Logan, as he struggled to pin down the Charizard. "Hey, you mind finishing this? I don't have the synchro thing like you do!"

0 nodded. "Pi, activate the Synchronization Drive! Volt Tackle!"

Static collected from inside his body, turning the Golden Ranger into a living light bulb. Ignoring the pain that coursed through his veins, he closed his hands on the giant Bolt Blade and slashed at the Charizard. The Pokemon gave out a shriek, then collapsed from the agony of the thousands of volts that ripped through its body. It did not get back up.

0 panted and lowered his sword, as the discharged electricity worked its way through his own body. "You okay?" Logan asked.

"Fine," 0 muttered. "I'm starting to get used to it. First time it completely killed me."

"Don't go dying on me. I'll have to fill out paperwork if you do."

0 chuckled. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"_Laaaaade!_"

Both men turned, only to see the aftermath. The Dark Emerald Ranger, having finished dispatching the Machamp, had rushed over to Karin's side. Neither the Red or Golden Ranger had noticed, because Karin wasn't someone who was really able to attract attention, that the Garchomp had gotten the upper hand in their battle. She was lying on the ground, not breathing, and she had been forced out of her Ranger Mode. Pats of her face were bruised, and much of her clothing was stained red.

"Karin!" Logan shouted and lunged forward. He transformed into Rescue Mode immediately, grabbed Karin, and swooped up to a nearby building, leaving 0 and Max to handle the last Shadow Pokemon. 0 sighed, but did not pursue the matter. He would have done the same thing for Serena if she was the one hurt.

"AX6, round up!" ordered 0 and removed Lu's Poke Ball from his belt. The Dark Emerald Ranger regrouped behind him, crouched like a feral animal. "Auxiliary Pokemon System! Cario Form!" He inserted the Poke Ball into his morpher and the transformation was instantaneous. Within moments he was dancing around, looking for the best opening to take down the giant Pokemon. Both the Golden and Dark Emerald Rangers circled the Garchomp, eager to fight.

"Sir, operating at maximum capacity," announced Lu in its deep voice. "Activating the Synchronization Drive."

"Good," 0 said and the spikes on the backs of his hands enlarged. "Get ready with Aura Sphere on my mark."

"Aye, sir," it replied.

The Aura came up and the Dark Emerald Ranger attacked, striking at the Garchomp with his chains to drive the Pokemon into a frenzy. The dragon focused all its attention on the Dark Emerald Ranger, who danced and leapt everywhere to keep its focus away from the Golden Ranger, who began charging up a massive ball of Aura.

It took a while, and thankfully Max and the Dark Emerald were very patient, but finally the massive energy ball was ready. "Lu, download the Lightning Laser, and prepare to fire the Aura Sphere with the first shot."

"Aye, sir." The shotgun emerged in 0's hands and was supercharged with the Aura energy in moments. The Golden Ranger aimed the weapon at the Garchomp's back.

"AX6, retreat!" 0 ordered. Max leapt away, just as the Garchomp turned around to see the barrel of 0's gun. "Send him packing, Lu! Let's go!" He pressed down on the trigger, just as the Garchomp began roaring and rushing towards him.

The blast was delayed, mostly because it was being condensed into something that the Lightning Laser was capable of firing, but it got off just in time to save 0 from becoming lunch for a very angry Pokemon. The blue and yellow ball of energy was released, resulting in the Garchomp being thrown back and through the nearest building. 0 himself was thrown back by the recoil of the weapon, smashing into a wall and denting it, before falling back to the ground. He hoisted himself up and noticed the Dark Emerald Ranger on the nearby rooftop, watching him.

"Good work," 0 called, and returned to his civilian uniform, reattaching his goggles to his face to keep the sand out of his eyes. "Come on down and turn back."

The Dark Emerald Ranger flipped back down to the ground, and after careful consideration began glowing, before the uniform faded away and the chains uncurled around the arms, revealing Max Birch.

Nearby May reappeared, along with Logan and an unconscious Karin.

"We'd better get out of here," 0 decided. The others agreed.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

The sun down, and the debriefing over, 0 escorted May back to her quarters.

The facility was unusually quiet that night. With the majority of the day's tasks done, the only people really on duty was the night shift. Everyone else was already in their quarters, getting ready for the next day's work. So it was just May and 0 and their footsteps as they walked down the corridors. Both were silent. Every once in a while, by complete accident, their shoulders would gently touch, and May's heart would skip a beat.

"0, can I ask you something?" May wondered, looking up at her protector. 0 looked back down at her, finding nothing unusual about the request, and silently nodded. "In the fight, you needed serum. What is that?"

0 sighed. "It's nothing really," he explained. "I take it because it helps me function. It's a special drug that nourishes agents, keeps them awake and alert during missions where that sort of thing isn't really easy to come by, but it's not meant to be used long term. Since I got the first batch of it, I've used it ever since. Now I can't live without it. I guess you could say it's sort of my kryptonite."

"Why do you use it?" May asked. "It sounds so dangerous, wouldn't it be safer to not take it?"

He wondered about that for a moment. "There's another reason I take it," he said and retracted his gaze. "When I left you for this, I was hurt. Not in a physical sense, but in a way that…well, I guess you know what I mean. It's a kind of hurt that scars you. I started having these horrible nightmares, it began interfering with my work. Eventually they gave me the serum so I could stay awake forever and keep the nightmares away."

May gasped and 0's mouth offered her a false smile. "I know that for all those years you hated me, May," he said. "Maybe you still do. You have every right to. I left you all alone with Sarah, to keep you safe from this. I've regretted not being able to be honest with you, all these years." They kept walking and turned a corner. "But I can't regret all of it, because these people gave me the power to protect you and Sarah."

She didn't reply and eventually they reached her room. May opened the door and walked through, 0 remained where he was. Just as he was about to turn around the door opened back up and May's eyes were red.

"Would you like to come inside?" she asked. "I'll make you a cup of tea."

Though he didn't drink tea anymore, 0 accepted the offer, and May shut the door behind him. He took a seat at the table, and May busied herself with brewing two cups of green tea, setting one for 0 and one for herself. 0 merely eyed the cup, brought it to his lips, and pretended to sip it. The serum made it so his body rejected most foods, alcohol being one of the shining exceptions. His injection had provided him with all the nourishment he needed, he felt full despite having had nothing.

A few minutes later, May finished her tea. 0 was content to watch, she looked so graceful and dignified. Despite the rather heavy atmosphere, there was no place he would have rather been at that moment than with her. But he sensed that she wanted him to leave, for she did not meet his gaze, so finally he rose, thanked her for the tea, and headed for the door.

His hand closed around the door knob, and he felt a pair of arms close around him. "May," he murmured and turned around. She wrapped her arms around his massive shoulders and held him close. She said nothing, but 0 felt something damp trickle onto the right side of his chest. She was crying. Hesitantly, he took her into his arms and rested his cheek against the top of her head. "What's wrong?"

"I was never alone," she whispered, refusing to dislodge herself from the protective embrace of her protector. "I had Sarah, Max, Brock…I had Drew and Dawn. I had Mom and Dad." She looked up into his face her eyes damp. "You were the one with no one. All you had was Pikachu and Serena…I should have-"

She sniffled, it was hard for her to speak. "I don't want you to be alone anymore. I don't want you to think you're ever going to be alone. You have me, and Sarah, and everyone. Even with all that's happened, we can be a family again!"

0's heart skipped a beat. "May…"

"Never leave me alone again," she whispered.

"I won't."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

May was still unsure. "You mean it?"

0 smiled, and said, "May, losing you was the worst mistake I ever made. And I try not to make mistakes a second time." Then, he bent down and kissed her.

Electricity shot through both their bodies, and old memories returned to the surface. May lifted herself onto her tiptoes and kissed 0 back with such force that even the Golden Ranger feared her ferocity. She pinned him against the wall and they both sank to the ground.

0's thought processes were destroyed a moment later, obliterated by his wanton need for her. He pressed his hands into her back, pushing on pressure points on her spine with his fingers. Her body melted into his, with each point pressed triggering a rush of physical desire from May. She needed him.

"Don't go…" she whispered, when they finally broke the kiss. "I don't want to be alone tonight."

"May." The both of them were very red in the face, but despite that May stood up, and led 0 towards her bed. She climbed in,and 0 followed. She got on top of the Golden Ranger, and they resumed their kiss. Suddenly, 0 broke the kiss, and May looked down on him, concerned.

"What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just-" A voice inside his head was telling him to stop, for reasons he could not discern. An instant later, there was a knock on the door.

May groaned and got up, obviously intending on getting rid of whoever was on the other side. As she turned the knob, the door exploded open and Sarah charged into the room, followed by a rather sheepish Max, who was scratching the back of his head and suppressing the urge to laugh.

"Daddy!" shouted Sarah, as 0 readjusted himself to face his daughter.

"What's up, kiddo?" 0 asked, now realizing what his internal alarm system had been trying to tell him. He picked up his daughter, as she was gesturing at him with her arms raised, and patted her on the head. May felt a slight twinge of jealousy well up in her brain.

"Daddy, I heard that you almost lost a fight today," she said, apparently quite concerned. "Is that true?"

0's mind drifted for a moment and then he grinned. "Tell me, Sarah, what person told you this horrible lie?" he asked.

She smiled. "Uncle Max!" she exclaimed happily.

0 turned very slowly, and glared at Max. "Is that right?" he wondered. "Why don't you reward Uncle Max by playing with his hair? You know, he really likes that."

"Really?" Sarah's eyes lit up and she leapt for Max, who took off running down the corridor screaming. Both May and 0 looked at each other and together burst out into fits of laughter.

"That's your daughter," May managed to gasp out, clutching her side.

0 nodded, chuckling. "Yes, yes she is," he agreed. That didn't make the situation any less funnier though. Despite the fact that Sarah had ruined an evening which would have probably led somewhere, 0 found himself quite content with how everything had turned out.


	22. Morph 22

**Morph Twenty-Two: A Ranger's Legacy**

"Why do I have to do this?"

Bakaguru glanced up from his paperwork, wondering why the Golden Ranger wanted him to repeat himself. He sighed and straightened his glasses. "Because, 0, we have begun taking applications for the three new slots on the Ranger team. We have to choose the new Blue, White, and Black Rangers somehow. 415 made it known to me that she does not have a Pokemon, so I thought it would be a good idea for you to take her out to try and catch one together. Good team bonding experience and whatnot."

Standing next to 0 was 415, who apparently had the same thinking as 0. "Really, this is unnecessary," she said, her hands folded over her waist. "I am perfectly capable of capturing my own Pokemon. I do not require Agent 0's assistance for that."

Bakaguru smirked. "415, do you understand the first thing about Pokemon?" He turned to 0 and chuckled. "You are standing next to the perfect person to help you. Not only can he speak the Pokemon languages, he is also a seasoned trainer. He is the perfect teacher to instruct you in obtaining and raising a Pokemon for the ranger camp."

"Ranger camp?" 0 asked.

"Oh yes, apparently the three new slots have been so exciting to the masses that there have been over a hundred applicants to become PKM Rangers. Serena has been assigned there, as have you, to instruct the camp and help select the three new Rangers. Logan will be there as well, he'll be beginning his duties when Karin wakes up." Ever since their last fight, the Pink Ranger had been in a small coma while her wounds were being treated. "Karin will be assigned to assist Logan, though she won't be teaching herself."

"Why are we picking the rangers?" 0 asked.

"Because I requested it," Bakaguru explained. "Council has agreed that it would be best to allow you rangers to pick the best for the job, since you know who would qualify most."

0 nodded. "Does that mean that 3's coming back as the White Ranger?"

"That," Bakaguru muttered, "has yet to be decided. I suggest not fighting too hard for that and to let me handle it. I am trying my best to reach a compromise to the Council. But, we are drifting off topic! Today you will go capture a Pokemon with 0, 415, and that is the end of the matter. Head to a Poke Spot, I want you to go today because I read the reports that there were more Pokemon than usual."

Reluctantly, 415 got up and 0 followed her out of Bakaguru's lab. Neither spoke until they reached the vehicle that Bakaguru had prepared for them, a hover bike. 0 got on, as did 415, though unlike his pleasant bike ride with May, the intelligence officer thought it was a good idea to dig her nails into the Golden Ranger's flesh. Ignoring the urge to simply kick her off the bike, he turned it on and revved the engine.

"Could you please just go?" 415 asked. "This is an uncomfortable place to sit."

"Why 415," murmured 0, as he started driving, "from you, that's almost flirting!" He was rewarded by further digging into his flesh, and winced. Briefly, he wondered if he could shock her again like he had the Snagem guy, but thought it was a bad idea to try.

The Poke Spot, located miles away from the PKM base, was a small oasis, and required somewhat of a long ride to get to. Neither 0 nor 415 spoke on the way there, so the trip was rather uneventful besides avoiding a slight sandstorm. Eventually, however, they arrived at the oasis and dismounted from the vehicle. 0 converted the bike into a capsule once again and got out both his Poke Balls.

"415, do you have any Pokemon at all?" he asked.

"No," she replied curtly. "We are here because of that."

He sighed and released Lu and Tork from their respective Poke Balls. "Well, at least I brought my two in case," he muttered to himself, then turned to his Pokemon. "Okay, today we're going to help 415 catch a Pokemon." He decided against speaking in Lu and Tork's languages for 415's benefit. Both Pokemon nodded, Tork eager to help and Lu eager for battle.

"Okay, so, 415, what kind of Pokemon do you want?" 0 asked.

"Does it matter?" she wondered, looking at the two Pokemon before her. "Anything, really. One with enough power to get me through ranger camp."

0 was dumbfounded. "415, do you know the first thing about Pokemon?"

She shook her head. "They are tools to further what I want," she explained. "It is as simple as that." Lu growled at her. She lowered her cold gaze onto the Aura Pokemon and it backed up slightly.

"Then I can't help you," 0 said and got his two Poke Balls back out. "Lu, Tork, return." Both Pokemon turned into bright red light and vanished back into their Poke Balls.

415 glared at 0. "Why not?"

"Because Pokemon aren't tools."

He reached for his hover bike capsule, only to be stopped by the intelligence officer. She grabbed him by the arm and squeezed. "We are not leaving without my Pokemon," she decided. "Understood?"

0 shook his head. "I'm not going to give you a Pokemon, not with that sort of attitude." She only responded by tightening her grip, which accidentally caused 0 to discharge a small dose of electricity in defense.

"You okay?" 0 asked, clearly unconcerned.

"What did you do?"

"Shocked you." 0 glanced at his arm, as if in wonder. "It's just a little static."

She recovered. "We are still not leaving without the Pokemon."

"Why?"

415 was stunned, she was not accustomed to being defied in this manner by anyone. "What do you mean 'Why?' We will because I said so."

"No, that's not what I mean," 0 replied. "You're so obsessed with being a PKM Ranger and everything, why won't you bother to see that the Pokemon you'll be with is a partner, not a tool? Why do you want to be a PKM Ranger, 415? Honestly."

415's hands clenched into fists. "The reason is of your business."

0 remained stoic. He wanted to know. "Tell me, 415. That is an order. I won't help you if I can't even trust you as a potential Ranger."

"We're supposed to protect humans!" 415 exclaimed. "Pokemon have nothing to do with it!"

"We are supposed to protect this planet," 0 reminded her. "Pokemon and humans alike. Why else do you think that a Ranger's strength comes from the bond between agent and Pokemon?"

415's lip curled.

"Tell me," 0 ordered again, towering over her.

"Fine," 415 spat out. "I want to be a Ranger because I love someone. Someone who would have noticed me if I was one. There, are you satisfied?"

0 found it difficult to speak. The fact that 415 was capable of an emotion, especially one like love, was something he was slightly unprepared for. "W-Who is it?" he asked.

"The Golden Ranger."

0 fell over. "M-Me?"

"No, you complete idiot. Why would I ever love something like you? You are fragmented, stupid, completely incapable of anything remotely related to competence, and you are utterly without merit. I love the original Golden Ranger, someone whom you could never measure up to."

0 was confused. "Wait, you're in love with a dead man?"

415 lowered her head. "Yes," she replied. "He was the one who rescued me. I have loved him ever since."

"He rescued you?" 0 had to sit down, this was really all too much.

415 nodded and sat down opposite him. "When I was a child, our town was attacked by Team Rocket. Out of nowhere this paladin came in, with eyes that sparkled like gold, and rescued our town. My parents were killed, so the paladin took me away and brought me to PKM. But no matter what I did, he always saw me as a child who needed rescuing. I always wanted to fight with him."

The Golden Ranger didn't know what to think of that. To him, the old 0 had always seemed like such a horrible person, the man responsible for taking away everything he knew and loved. "It looks like he was the opposite with you," he muttered. "0 was someone who took things to me, but he gave to you."

"And now he's dead. Because of you and your family. And I hate you all for that. Even if May Birch is my assignment and I must keep her alive, I hate her for being the reason he had to die. And I hate you, for being the failure that cannot properly carry on his legacy."

Something flashed inside 0's head. "415...I remember you once told me that you hated me because I reminded you of him. What did that mean?"

"What?" she snapped.

"How do I remind you of him?"

She rubbed her head. "There is something in your stance that reminds me of him. When you fight, I mean. You are, as you have said before, the dark warrior. So was he. You have more in common with him than I think you will ever care to admit. And the fact that you refuse to acknowledge that his legacy gives you strength makes you a failure and a hypocrite."

"I wear his mask. That doesn't make me him."

"You wore it once, I was watching."

"That was before…"

"Tell me about it," she requested. "His mask. How did it feel?"

So he told her.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

**…_Five Years Ago…_**

The streets of Petalburg are certainly different than what I'm used to.

I come from Pallet, which means I'm more or less used to a rural area. In Pallet some of the streets are dirt, and the people are quieter. It's different in the city, where the traffic blares and invades the ears, where crime is pretty big, and the whole place smells funny. The air is definitely fresher in the country, so that's where my wife and I decided to raise our family. When she became pregnant, we both decided that our child would live somewhere safe and happy, until it was time for her to begin her Pokemon journey.

But my wife was always a city girl in her heart, so I would occasionally visit her family in Petalburg. Normally we would go by plane, which is another thing I'm a little uncomfortable with. I guess after so many years spent traveling on my feet I kind of developed an aversion to other transport. Still, we had the baby, and we were taking her to see her grandparents on her first visit outside of Kanto. We couldn't exactly take her on a giant trek across the world, now could we?

We arrived in Petalburg a few days into March, my wife always preferred to travel in the late spring, before tourist season. Her father met us at the airport and her brother drove the four of us back to the Petalburg gym. It was uneventful, despite the fact that my daughter kept screaming with delight at being able to see her grandfather and uncle. They didn't visit often, which was another reason my wife wanted to bring our daughter to Hoenn. I think she misses the city.

My brother-in-law and I unloaded the car, while my wife and daughter went into the house with her dad to see her mom.

"Haven't seen you in a while," he said and I remember he had such a grin on his face as he closed the car doors.

I shrugged and picked up my share of the luggage. "I don't really need to leave Kanto too often," I explained. "Once you're famous like I am, you really learn to hate traveling. We almost got mobbed at the airport, nearly missed our flight too."

He laughed. "Well, maybe you should start doing worse in Pokemon championships," he suggested and led the way into the gym.

"That'd be great," I said, opening the door, "except that it's the only way I know to put food on the table!" Again we shared a laugh, and I followed him through the house to the guest room where we deposited the luggage. I noticed a crib in the corner.

My brother-in-law grinned. "My mom and dad really like babies. Plus, we haven't seen your daughter in a while, they've been really excited about seeing their granddaughter. Now, where's that niece of mine?" A shriek of laughter issued from downstairs and I grinned.

"Probably in that direction," I said, so we went down, where I found my daughter with a vice grip on my father-in-law's hair. My daughter's got this laugh, I can't really describe it in a way that does it justice. Let's just say that you really don't mind that you're hair's being torn out from the roots until after she's quiet. My brother-in-law stepped in, only to receive the vice grip himself! My wife and I just watched, tired from the plane ride.

Finally my Pikachu did something about it, leaping up and cuddling with my daughter. She just loves that Pokemon, maybe even more than I do, but she hadn't quite figured out the right way to handle an electric Pokemon. But Pi was a good friend, and it always tolerated whatever she dished out. Surprisingly though, she was always gentle with Pi. She would stroke its fur, sometimes making a bit too much static electricity, she'd pat its head, the works. I think Pi liked looking after her.

After dinner we retired for the day. Contrary to most celebrities, my wife and I normally went to bed early, so that our daughter wouldn't worry too much. I remember holding my wife in my arms for the last time before I joined PKM. She smelt of strawberries.

The next day, I took my family out for some lunch. Though my mother-in-law insisted on cooking for us, my wife wanted to show me this great place she had read about in some magazine. We put our daughter in her stroller, Pi jumped in to keep her company, and all four of us headed out into the city, me pushing the stroller, and her arm entwined with mine. It was, for lack of a better word, perfect.

We decided to walk, so it took us some time to get to the restaurant. The place was a little hole in the wall a mile down the street and a few blocks over, with vines growing around the edges of the window. It looked like just the kind of place my wife loved. Try as I might, I can't remember the name of the restaurant, though they served some pretty good Johto grub.

Our waitress was a young girl, maybe ten years younger than me, with strawberry blond hair and a really bright smile. She noticed us as we walked in and, thankfully, didn't squeal. I don't think she recognized us at first, because she just looked us over, tilted her head, and politely showed us to a table in the corner of the room. We got our daughter out, she squirmed a little at being moved, and put her in a high chair. Pi jumped up next to her and played with her while my wife and I ordered our food. After taking our orders, the waitress assured us that she would be back with our tea in a few minutes, bowed, and left.

"So, what's up for the rest of the day?" I asked, keeping an eye on my daughter and Pi. The Pikachu was smiling, despite the fact that its chair mate was probably applying too much pressure when petting its back.

My wife shrugged. "I guess we could go check out a museum. Really, I'm just glad to be back home for a little bit. Mom's really been wanting to see Sarah so badly, and they hate traveling between regions."

"I understand," I sympathized. "I hate it too." I glanced at our daughter, who was busy trying to figure out the fastest way out of the secure high chair. "At least Sarah doesn't seem to mind it. She'll do great when she's out traveling."

"About that," my wife said, "when exactly are we going to let her go?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "We'll obviously let her go when she's ten. That's when we started."

"Yes, but look at who her parents are," she pointed out. "Paparazzi will swarm her if we let her go out into the world too quickly. Maybe it would be a better idea to hold her back until she matures."

"Hmmm…I can't say I thought of that," I answered. Before I replied, though, the waitress came back with our tea.

"Here ya go!" she said perkily and set both cups down. "Have you decided what you were going to have for lunch today?"

We had, so we ordered, and the waitress bowed and left again. My wife and I returned to the conversation at hand.

"So, what you're saying is that we should let her wait until she's twelve or something?" I asked. "That seems a little late to start training Pokemon."

"I was actually thinking something more along the lines of fourteen or fifteen," she replied. I practically spit out my tea.

"May, that's much too late!" I protested. "Kids have to start early, otherwise they get dragged in the dust in the trainer world."

My wife grinned. "What makes you think she'll be a trainer?" she wondered. "She could be a coordinator like her mommy." She turned to her daughter, and patted her black hair. "Sarah, do you want to be a coordinator like Mommy?" My daughter nodded her head, though I knew that she didn't know what nodding meant, only that it was fun to do.

"Oh boy…" I murmured and sipped my tea, not knowing that two minutes later, my life would change forever.

Exactly one hundred and twenty seconds later, it happened. My wife was helping my daughter stay in the high chair, because she never did like to stay in one place for too long, even before she learned to walk. I didn't even hear the first explosion, I just remember some kind of force happening, and the next moment I was thrown to the ground. Dazed, I struggled back to my feet, and ran to my wife and daughter. My wife was unconscious, my daughter was screaming.

"May!" I shouted, grabbing her. The restaurant was in chaos, people were running everywhere. She didn't respond. I got my daughter out of the chair and tucked her under what was left of the table.

"Hang on, Sarah," I whispered and hugged her. "Daddy needs to take care of Mommy really quick."

I reached for my Poke Balls and released two. Z and Ty exploded from the balls. "Ty, clear a path!" I ordered. "Z, take May and Sarah out of here!" The Charizard nodded and took both my wife and daughter into its arms. My Typhlosion screeched, blasting through a nearby wall to help Z get out. I followed. Once we were outside, we saw the source of the problem.

Rockets. Once just a nuisance to deal with once a week, now they were just getting out of hand. "Z, get them to a hospital. Ty, you're with me." Both Pokemon nodded and the Charizard took off in one sweep. Ty followed me, its giant body comforting. I readied another Poke Ball just in case.

There was a troupe of about ten or twenty of them, all carrying rifles. In the center, commanding them, was a giant robot, the kind that Jessie and James used to use, only much more advanced. "They've got guns," I muttered to Ty. "This could get dangerous."

Ty growled, it didn't care, too loyal to stand down. I nodded.

"Then let's do this! Ty, Fire Blast!"

The Rockets swerved, too slow to notice the Typhlosion and ran in fear as the powerful blast struck. The mecha, however, was less than concerned, and its operator shielded the troupe from the attack. Ty increased its power output, driving back the machine from the surrounding crowd.

I looked around and saw a Rocket readying its gun. "Ty, return!" I ordered, just as a bullet issued. The Pokemon vanished, the bullet passing through thin air and slamming into a nearby building. I breathed a sigh of relief, but now I and everyone else was in trouble.

"Get out of our way!" shouted the robot's operator, a woman's screeching voice. She raised her mecha's leg and smashed against the ground, breaking open the road.

I got out of the way, getting their attention. But without a Pokemon, I was useless, more than useless! But I was something to distract them, before they started shooting at the crowd.

That's when he showed up.

I don't think anyone even saw him actually enter the battlefield, he was just suddenly there. The Rockets were taken down as quickly as he could reach them, I couldn't see him, he was too fast! Even the mecha was too slow, and he engaged it in battle. That's when I saw him, really saw him, for the first time.

The ranger gear that I wear is about a half-generation ahead of the old one, so the design was a little bit different. For starters, there was a lot more gold on the top half of his uniform, his arms were covered in glowing gold along with the chest. His helmet was the same, mostly black with a gold upside-down triangle. The armor was a lot more bulky too, it was before they streamlined the material the new suits are designed out of. He was seven feet tall, the suit added so much weight and height… He looked like a giant savior.

"Everyone stand back," the man ordered, broadcasting his voice through the suit. "The situation is being handled, please get back and leave the area. I repeat, leave the area."

But, because people are stupid, nobody left, myself included. We all wanted to see him in action, because everyone needs to see a fight every now and then.

The man I now know was the Golden Ranger kept fighting, because that was all he seemed to be able to do. But I saw between his moves, he was doing the same thing that I had been doing: buying enough time for real power to get there and rescue everyone. It was too bad that at that point he was so old that even his strength wasn't enough anymore.

Sooner or later, his age got the best of him, and the mecha operator took advantage of that and smashed him across the face. He faltered, the weight of his suit was almost too much, but he stayed on his feet. Not for long though, because before he had a chance to fight back the mecha swept down and smashed him in the chest, throwing him in the direction of a nearby wall. Then, when she was done, she picked him up, and the strength of the mecha allowed her to toss him in the direction of a nearby parking garage.

He smashed through the wall of the second floor. Without even thinking, without any hesitation, I tore after him, ignoring the bullets that sprayed at me.

"Leave that fool!" shouted the commander, turning her attention to the crowd. "We have Pokemon to get!"

I ran through the garage, it was empty for some reason. I saw him land on the second floor, so that's where I headed. When I reached it, I saw him, dragging his heels towards me, trying to get back into combat. I stopped him.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The man didn't seem to notice me, he just kept moving, sluggishly dragging himself through the lot. He didn't reach me though, he dropped to his knees before that. I guess the armor's weight got the better of him for a moment, because he got back up again and kept going. His breathing was erratic, he couldn't really move properly. He just kept going, like a zombie almost.

Finally, however, his strength gave way and he almost dropped to the ground.

I grabbed him, just before he hit the ground. He weighed a ton, so it was really hard to keep him up before he started helping me. Finally, though, he was standing back on his feet, and dragged himself through the parking garage. I could tell the pain was almost unbearable for him, his ragged gasps kept escaping from his armor in mechanized groans.

"Where are you going?" I asked. "You're too hurt to do anything."

The man inside the armor laughed. "There is no one else," he said, and tried to shove me out of the way. He was too hurt though, and fell down.

Then, I made the decision that changed my life forever. "I'll do it," I replied and held out my hand. "Give me that armor. I'll fight for you."

He disagreed, but he couldn't get up. The armor was much too bulky, and its parts were too heavy, so he remained on the ground. "Tell me, boy," he muttered, "why do you want to help me? If I lend you this armor, it will mean that your life will change forever. Do you want that?"

I was hesitant to reply, but my resolve was strong. "If I don't, people are going to get hurt." He looked up at me and I stared at him. I think he saw something in me then, because he relented. A brilliant light issued from his body, and steam flooded the garage, but the armor vanished, leaving nothing but an old man lying on the floor.

I stooped down to help him and propped the old man against a nearby wall. It was before he started those experiments, he looked like a man who was so tired of everything. His hair was black and dusty, most of it unkempt. But his eyes, I remember those so clearly. They were bright gold, and seemed to glow in the darkness of the garage. On his left wrist was this massive machine, it looked like an oversized wristwatch. He undid the strap that bound it to him and slowly handed it to me. I took it, and realized that his hand was made of metal.

"There is precious little time, boy," the man instructed, as I strapped the machine to my wrist as he had, only I stuck it on my right arm instead of the left. "The device you are wearing will generate the armor I wear, but there is a limit to its power. A time out, if you will, depending on your own strength. It is called a morpher. I have loaded it with a Pokemon that will allow you to access the armor. It will be weak, because it is my Pokemon and you do not have the necessary bond to it, but it will serve you until you run out of power." He stopped, coughing, then continued. "Return it to me."

I nodded. "I will." Then, I looked over the morpher. "How do I turn it on?"

"The activation code is thus: _Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power_. Press the red button, and go."

I was nervous, unsure in that last moment of what I needed to do. But finally I suppressed my own fear and pressed the red button on the side of the device.

_ "Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power!"_

It's something I've never forgotten, the first time I donned that mask. The armor emerged like holographs around me, before they turned solid and began attaching themselves onto me. First, the parts on my arms attached, I kept hearing all of these clinks and gears scraping into place, then the legs, and finally the chest armor emerged. The helmet appeared last, but once it came the suit came online and the screen opened up, displaying the outside world.

I took a breath, the armor had its own supply of oxygen. I took a step forward, my leg weighed a ton! The man looked up at me, with a strange sense of satisfaction. "I thought so," he said.

"What?"

"Somehow, you are bonded to my Pokemon," the man said. I looked down to my chest, there was a blazing emblem of a dark Flying Pokemon surrounded by gold. "Very few people can be. It trusts few." He smirked and nodded. "It will work with you without question. Now go, I sense that you have precious time to save those you want to save."

I nodded and started to turn away, but then I glanced back at him. "Who are you, old man?" I asked.

He chuckled. "It's a little late for introductions, don't you think?" he wondered, but as an afterthought, said, "0. That's what they call me. Just 0."

"Okay, 0," I said, and started moving. "I won't let you down!"

I took off running, though it wasn't so much of a run as it was a fast jog. I lumbered out of the garage like a tank and turned back to where the fighting was still going on. When they saw me coming, they didn't stop shooting until I took one of them and punched them right into the nearest wall. Then they stopped.

"What are you doing back?" asked the lead Rocket, her voice filled with distain. "We already dealt with you."

"Oh, it takes more than a little scrappy fighting to stop this friendly neighborhood Power Ranger," I replied jokingly. My voice sounded different when it was broadcasted, it sounded just like 0! "Who's up for round two?" The lead Rocket turned her mecha in my direction, eager to put me down.

I sprang into action. The armor was beginning to feel lighter, so I grabbed the Rocket mecha's foot and twisted it, sending the whole machine crashing down to the ground. The grunts wasted no time and opened fire on me. I groaned as each bullet bounced off me, each one felt like getting hit with a hammer. But, thanks to the armor, I was able to endure it and charge into the group. Somehow my mind told me where the punch, and how to fight. I think it was because I was in the moment, but it might have also been 0's Pokemon. It never spoke, but I understood it. It wanted me to fight, and it wanted me to win.

So I did. While the mecha worked to destabilize itself, I jumped into the fray with the grunts. Bodies went flying, most of them smashing into nearby building walls or the street. One even flew down a pothole! "Come on!" I shouted, as I punched one grunt across the street. "Get some!"

I felt invincible, like nothing could stop me. I was wrong though, because I'd forgotten about the mecha in my fighting 'high'. All I remember is that one minute I was standing and taunting, and the next I was halfway down the block with a throbbing head and groaning. The entire left side of my face was numb. I turned around, incredibly angry, and saw that the Rocket mecha was back up on its feet and the remaining grunts who could see straight were picking up their rifles and coming after me. Hands clenched into fists, I stood up to face them.

At this point I didn't know how long I had left, 0 had said something about the suit needing to time out at some point, but I wasn't sure when that was going to happen. So I wasted no time, and smashed through the grunts to get to the massive machine. She swept her giant arms down, trying to swat me away. I dodged. She was twice my size, so I had the advantage with speed! I slammed into her leg, attempting to drive her back.

She laughed. "What's this?" she asked, pausing to try to shake me off. "A little bug's got on my armor! I'd better smack you off!" She hit me with her fist, I heard my back scream in pain, but I held on tight. As long as I kept my grip, she couldn't get to the people in the crowds watching us.

Then I started to work my way up the mecha, digging into the metal with the heavy armor covering my hands. Her attempts to get me off started getting erratic, she didn't know what to do about it. Eventually, though, I reached the chest cavity I knew she was hiding in.

"Oh crap," she whispered, as I smashed through the mecha's vulnerable hull and dragged her out. She was small and tiny, with blond hair. I think I recognized her from somewhere, since there was an incredible feeling of déjà vu, but I didn't dwell on it for too long before I tossed her to the street and tilted myself so that the mecha landed on its butt. After I smashed up the controls to make sure that no one could operate it again, I turned to the rest of the grunts, all of whom looked like they were about to soil themselves.

"Want to surrender?" I asked pleasantly. The response was unanimous, all of them dropped their guns and raised up their hands. I lined them up against the wall, like I'd seen on TV, and the rest is history.

PKM showed up a few minutes later in full force, taking all of the Rockets and me into custody. Once we were in the van, I noticed that the old man was standing there, holding out his hand impatiently.

"Demorph and give me my morpher back," he requested, with a tone that I guess was supposed to be threatening, but when you're wearing a suit of armor sounds more like a bully half your size asking for your lunch money.

I looked at the morpher strapped to my arm. "How?" I asked.

"Press the red button again," he instructed. "The morpher's about to time out anyway."

I did as he requested, and an eruption of steam escaped all of the armor's joints, filling the van with a cloud of hot foggy air. My armor started to glow, and one by one pieces of it vanished until it was just me standing there. I took off the giant morpher and handed it back to 0, who reattached it.

He then held out his hand. "Good work, boy," he said, and shook my hand.

I glanced around, most of the Rockets were recovering from their steam bath. "So, what happens now?" I asked. "Mind dropping me off at the Petalburg Gym? My wife and kid are probably a little worried about where I am right now."

"Unfortunately, we cannot," replied 0 and offered me a seat next to him. I took it. "You see, I did not want to give you the morpher, but now that you've used it, we cannot release you."

"What? I need to get back to my family!" I was furious, I had just saved a crowd of people, and now I was going to get stuck in prison with the Rockets? No way!

0 held up his hand, cool as a cucumber. "Please, do not assume that you cannot go back," he said. "There is a choice to be made here, one that could allow you to return to your family."

I was listening.

"I am a member of PKM," explained the man, "an elite organization that fights terrorism through the world. I am the Golden Ranger, and it is my job to lead the best of the best, our PKM Rangers, into battle."

I remembered hearing something about what he was talking about. "I think I heard about you once on the news," I said. He nodded.

"While we do not officially acknowledge our own existence, we are known. Anyway, I would like to offer you the opportunity to join us on a part-time basis. Since we cannot let you leave, it would be best if you became an agent with us." He paused and gave me time to sink that information in. "You handled the Ranger System well, better than most. Maybe you could become one, with time and proper training."

Me? Become a Ranger? He must have been mistaken, I thought. "What's the other option?" I asked.

"My organization will detain you for an indefinite period, as you have had access to classified technology," 0 explained, very business-like. "You will be allowed no contact with the outside world, as per our Council's rules. Understand?"

I nodded, taking a deep breath. "So, I should join?"

"I think that would be wise. You seem like a good person, who wishes for a challenge. This would be the perfect opportunity to employ your talents."

"My…talents?"

"I witnessed your battle. While your fighting is sloppy, you seem to have a somewhat instinctive knowledge of combat. Are you a Pokemon trainer?"

I nodded and displayed the Poke Balls on my belt. "Yes, but these aren't all of them. My Pikachu is back with my family."

0 nodded and folded his arms. "We will inform your family that you were injured and rushed to a hospital, which is true, since we need to check if you have a concussion. While there, you will be briefed on your new life and the adjustments you will have to make. You will then be taken to a nearby hospital and placed there to await your family. Is that understood?"

I nodded again. "I suppose so."

"Oh, there is one more condition," 0 said, and crossed his legs.

"What?"

"While we are known to the public, our identities are kept confidential," 0 explained. "As such, you will be unable to tell your family the truth about your new job. Ever. We take the secrecy of our members very seriously, as we are the hunters of terrorists after all. We will assist you in providing covers for missions, but that will be all. Your identity as an agent will have to be maintained. It is not only for our protection, but yours and your family's as well."

"Is this sort of thing normal?"

"No. We do not ordinarily accept people who are tied to outside members of PKM. However, exceptions have been made in the past, and they can be made again for special agents who deserve them." He looked me over with those eerie golden eyes and smiled. "You might be one of those special agents."

And just like that, I was in PKM.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

0 finished his story, and lowered his head. "I'm sorry it's not a really exciting story, 415," he said. "One day I was an average guy, the next I'm an agent. Being a ranger is something I never really thought I'd ever be, that's just what happened." He pulled out his Poke Balls and looked them over. "In my heart, I'm still that trainer from Pallet." He smiled, that brought back some happy memories.

"You are a very simple person, aren't you?" 415 asked, taking a drag of her cigarette. 0 had made her sit downwind, so he wouldn't have to smell it. "It makes sense."

"Why do you want to be a ranger, 415? Is it really because you want to show me up?" 0 asked.

415 paused, staring out into the vast desert beyond the oasis. "To me, being a ranger means being like 0, being a person who protects and guards. Being someone who people look up to, who they can see. If I become a ranger, maybe I will become that person that he saw in me. Maybe others will see me like that."

"Do you think that you can become a trainer first, and a ranger second?" asked the Golden Ranger. "That's what makes a good ranger. You have to learn to care about others and your Pokemon, otherwise being a person's savior is kind of empty, right?"

"I suppose, in your incredibly thick way, that you have a point," 415 admitted. "But how do you know that I am not lying to you in order to get a Pokemon?"

He shrugged. "I just know how to feel people, 415," he said. "I can tell you're a good person, even if no one sees it. That's why you love him, because you idolized the savior that 0 was to you. You wanted to be like that. And one day, you will be." He stood up, his face tense.

"What is it?" 415 asked.

He sniffed the air. "Pokemon," he said curtly and released Lu and Tork. "We need to hide, catching Pokemon at Poke Spots is tough enough… Orre Pokemon are really brutal because of the environment they live in." He ducked behind a rock and 415 followed him with the Pokemon. From there, they saw what had come to drink from the oasis.

The Pokemon looked like a blue and black lion, with two gold rings around its two front legs. "Luxio," 0 breathed, while 415 analyzed the Pokemon. The dark spots on its hind legs were short, indicating it was a female. "Will that one do?"

415 nodded. "It will be suitable," she decided, so 0 handed her a Poke Ball and told her to get ready for the fight. Lu got ready to fight first, as Tork was rather hesitant about battling a wild Pokemon for someone else's capture. When 0 gave the signal, he, Lu, and 415 sprang out from behind the rock.

"Lu, Aura Sphere!"

"_Cario!_" The Pokemon generated the Aura quickly and blasted it at the Luxio. It reacted quickly, rather angry at being disturbed so rudely, and dodged. It responded by growled, then releasing a stream of electricity that coursed through the Lucario's body. Lu faltered, but recovered itself a moment later and punched its paws together, indicating it was ready for another round.

0 was happy to oblige. "Force Palm!" he ordered. Lu charged up more Aura, and unleashed it, sending the Luxio flying back.

"Do I catch it now?" 415 asked, readying her Poke Ball.

0 shook his head. "This one's really tough, it's probably a high level, and my Lucario just evolved," he explained. "Lu, blast it with another Aura Sphere! Keep wearing it down!" Lu growled, and unleashed sphere after sphere. But its level was too low, the Luxio kept dodging and shocking the dog Pokemon. Finally, it had enough, and dove towards Lu, sinking its fangs in and delivering a course of electricity into the Lucario's body. Lu shivered, and passed out. 0 recalled it.

"Tork, go!" 0 ordered. The giant turtle blasted steam from its nostrils and back before lumbering into battle. "Flamethrower!" It took a deep breath, then blasted at the Luxio, covering its proximity in fire. It still dodged, much too fast to be hit by the slow and steady Torkoal. 0 groaned as another bolt of electricity shot out and struck the turtle, causing it to cease its flame barrage.

"Why is it winning?" 415 shouted.

"Because it's a speedy Pokemon at a high level," 0 retorted, as if instructing a child. "Tork, use Heat Wave! Blast the battlefield!"

The turtle nodded, and drew in the power of the nearby sunlight. The Orre sun, so powerful, charged it, and it unleashed a deadly strike. Finally, the Luxio faltered, unable to dodge the attack, and fell to the ground. 0 grinned, the battle was finally turning in his favor.

"415, get ready with that Poke Ball! Use it when I give the order!"

Luxio had enough. It screamed a mighty Roar, then its entire body began glowing.

"Oh no," 0 muttered.

"What is it?" 415 demanded to know.

He glanced towards her, and sighed. "You really, really don't want to know," he replied, before he turned back to the fight. The glowing Pokemon grew, and finally transformed into a Luxray. The Luxray, upon its evolution, snarled at Tork and 0, then blasted the turtle with enough electricity to power a city block. Tork groaned, then passed out. 0 recalled him, now out of Pokemon and with an angry Luxray ready to attack.

It charged up its lightning, focusing on 415 first. She panicked, unsure of what to do. 0 cursed, and felt the tingle of electricity flow through his body. "Get down, 415!" he shouted and rushed towards the Pokemon. It snarled at him and focused its attack in his direction.

"What are you doing?" screamed 415.

"Something stupid!" he replied and transformed, again without having to trigger his morpher. The golden armor clamped into place, just in time to take the Luxray's Discharge attack. He groaned, working through the pain, and absorbed the electric attack. "Okay, here I go!" Operating on instinct alone, 0 placed his hands to the ground, and focused on all of the electricity surging through his body. His palms sparked, and the electricity went flowing back into the ground, ripping through the oasis floor towards the Luxray.

It screamed as it was struck by the force of the torrential lightning, and collapsed to the ground barely breathing. 0 swerved to 415, who was hiding behind him and shouted, "Now, 415! The Poke Ball!"

"R-Right!" she said and hurled the ball in the fallen Luxray's direction. It smacked into the Pokemon's side, opened up, and encased the beast in flashing red light. The Pokemon vanished and the Poke Ball tumbled down onto the ground, where it began shaking violently as the Pokemon endeavored the last of its strength to evade capture.

Finally, the ball stopped shaking. The Luxray was caught.

0 smiled as 415 walked up slowly, as if the Pokemon might pop up at any moment and attack her, and picked up the Poke Ball, cradling it between her fingers. Then, slowly, her lips crept up into a smile, and she turned back to 0.

"You can…transform without evoking the morpher," she said, looking at his Ranger Form. He nodded. "Why?"

He shrugged. "I don't know why," he replied. "I just know that when I want to help people, I can change without needing to shout a morphing call or pressing a button." He paused, as her smile had faded. "Is that a bad thing?"

"I do not know," she answered. "But…I do remember that in the final days, before he fused with his morpher, 0 could do that too. Do not lose your humanity."

"I won't," he promised.

"And, thank you," she murmured, lowering her gaze to the emblem on his chest. "Thank you, 0, for this Pokemon." She cradled the Poke Ball close to her chest.

He nodded, and demorphed. As the guise of the Golden Ranger faded away, he gave her a grin. "You'll do fine, 415. One day, I'm sure you'll make him proud."

She nodded. "I know I will 0. Now, we should go home. I need to begin preparing myself and my Pokemon for Ranger camp." 0 agreed and opened the hover bike's capsule. They got on, and rode off.

"Hey, 415?"

"Yes?"

"I think this is one of the first times you've ever called me 0."

"What of it?"

"Any particular reason to start now?"

She paused. "There was something in your stance, and the way you fought, that reminded me of 0. You are slowly growing into your mantle." She hated repeating herself.

"Thank you."

"Shut up, 0."

He laughed.

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Somewhere in the desert, a man stumbled back into a building. Carrying his Poke Balls, surrounded by a henchmen crew of Rangerlings, he opened the door and collapsed inside.

"Goza," whispered a voice in the dark.

The man looked up, he recognized that voice. "Ame?" he asked.

The voice in the dark giggled. "You have work to do, Goza. My employers insist."

Goza groaned and the voice inside his head began getting louder.


	23. Morph 23

**Morph Twenty-Three: Happy Birthday, Mr. Logan**

The clock was moving much too quickly.

Dreas Logan glanced at it briefly, wondering what could be causing it to hurry like that, before returning his attention to the unconscious Karin. He hadn't moved in the past several days, ever since the big fight in Pyrite, except of course to eat, shower, and use the toiletries. Once, he got up in order to obtain a marker to write on his partner with, but decided that would be much more trouble than it was worth. The Red Ranger's eyes analyzed her body, there was still no change in her condition. Her body was breathing normally, he knew that from how her chest would occasionally move, almost like a tectonic shift in her otherwise still body. Her heart beat as well, he could see it patter every few moments.

All in all, he was not happy the clock was moving so quickly.

"Slow down," he muttered, as if his voice would actually make the clock do as he commanded. Unfortunately, it did not, and the clock continued to tick along its merry way. Logan sighed and lightly squeezed Karin's hand. He didn't know if he would ever get the chance again, and Karin was rarely unconscious when he was awake. She seemed to sense his movement each time he had tried to sneak up and grope her.

Behind him, the door opened, he didn't need to look to see who it was. "Pull up a chair," he offered to the Golden Ranger, gesturing at the piece of furniture located at the opposite side of Karin's bed. "What brings you down here?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing," 0 replied. "Has there been any change?"

Logan shook his head. "Afraid not," he muttered. "They're not sure how long she's going to be like this either." His red eyes were heavy. "Now I know how you feel."

"What?" 0 asked.

He sighed. "There's just that little bit of me that really wishes that I had done something more to help her, that I shouldn't have left her by herself. Each time, something bad happens. She destroyed Serena's morpher because I wasn't allowed to stop her, and she got…hurt because I was fighting with you instead of her."

"Logan, this wasn't your fault. Even if we are rangers, we're still only human."

Logan nodded. "What are you down here for anyway?" he asked, focusing the conversation elsewhere. "Don't tell me it's because you wanted to see my pretty face."

0 smirked. "Actually, I came here to give you this," he said and handed the Red Ranger what looked like a baseball cap. It was red and black with his number on it. "This one's for Karin." He tossed Logan a second one, which was pink and black with a 5 written on it.

Logan looked up. "What are these for?"

"Ranger camp is starting tomorrow," 0 explained. "I guess they want us in more casual clothing, since we're going to be getting pretty rough to weed out the three new rangers from the hundred applicants. The rest of your clothing has been placed in your room for tomorrow, I just wanted to give these to you two now."

"Why?"

"To cheer you up," he said. "You're not yourself when you're this serious, Logan. It is, in all honesty, exceedingly worrying."

Logan chuckled and glanced towards the clock again. He was almost out of time. "I suppose you're right," he murmured. "Tell the guru I'll be there tomorrow, hopefully Karin will be too."

0 nodded and stood up. Then, he glanced at the monitor. "Has there really been no change?" the Golden Ranger asked, peering at Karin's vitals.

"No."

"That's weird."

Logan looked up. "What is?"

"Logan, when was the last time you left the room?"

He shrugged. "Maybe an hour ago. Nature sent me a text message."

"The monitor's been tampered with," 0 said. "The cords and things have been rearranged. That's really weird. Well, I'll see you later." He waved, then abandoned the room, all but certain of what would take place in a few moments.

Logan glanced over the monitor, sure enough, if he inspected it more carefully he could see the careful rewiring that had been done to make it seem as though Karin was unconscious. Her brain waves weren't showing any activity.

"Oh no," he mumbled.

It was then that Karin, who had only been faking her condition for the past day or so, got up, and twisted Logan's head into a half-nelson. The Red Ranger cringed, finding his ability to breathe somewhat limited. "K-Karin," he gasped, tapping her arm. "Let me go. I swear I wasn't doing anything bad. You know me, I admit when I do bad stuff."

Karin didn't seem to be interested in what he had to say, forcing Logan to do something before he lost consciousness himself. He pulled himself up from where Karin had him trapped, dragging Karin and the machines she was attached to along with him. From there, he slammed his back against the wall, pinning her down. She was so shocked she loosened her grip. Logan, working against the clock, turned around and pinned her arms up, making sure she couldn't try that trick again.

"Hey," he said, "is that any way to say hello to a guy who's been waiting for you to wake up patiently? I didn't even try anything, I was too worried."

Karin's expression was odd, her lips were tight with irritation, as if she was somehow annoyed by the fact that he had spent so much time by her side. "I didn't even sleep, and you know how much I love sleep," he pointed out. She tried to kick him, but he saw it coming and easily got out of the way. "Oi…you're a handful. I have half a mind to make you apologize to me." He smirked. "Good thing I know better. Now come on, let's get you home if you're feeling so well."

He released her from the wall and tossed her the cap that 0 had left her. "We've got ranger camp tomorrow, we should get some shuteye."

He headed outside and was followed by his partner. They were stopped by the orderly.

"Excuse me," he said. "She has not been processed. I do not think she should leave yet."

Logan smiled. "Yeah…about that. Look, let's leave the paperwork for later. Trust me when I say that she really doesn't want to be here, and you don't want to keep her against her will. I'll stop by and fill out the paperwork tomorrow. Karin, let's go!" He side-stepped the orderly and was followed motion for motion by his partner. They ran from the hospital wing and didn't stop until they reached their room, fresh out of breath.

Logan smiled and opened the door. "Welcome home, Karin," he said, as they stepped through. "Shall we spend the night together?"

His statement was rewarded by being smacked upside the head. He groaned and rubbed the spot Karin had hit as they stepped inside their little home. "Well, at least it feels like home again," he said and laid down on the floor. "Come on, let's go to sleep. You and I have a rough day tomorrow, and I think we have to get up early too. I hate that!"

Karin merely climbed into her bed and Logan shut off the lights.

He could still hear the ticking, the dreaded countdown almost completed. He pulled out his cell phone, he had roughly five minutes left.

Then, suddenly, there were only four minutes left.

"Crud…" he groaned and rolled over on the floor. Maybe if he wished hard enough, the clock would start turning backwards.

_ In the name of all that is holy, sacred, and delicious, please do not let me run out of time. You have no idea how terrible it's going to be, what will be unleashed, if my time runs out. She will destroy everything around us, and there will be nothing anyone can do to stop it._

He looked at the clock again, he had less than two minutes left. He glanced up at Karin, already pretending to be asleep, he knew she wouldn't really until he went to bed. He sighed, wishing he had someone to talk to. Or, rather, someone to talk to who would talk back to him.

"Hey, Karin," he muttered, he noticed her head tilt slightly to hear him better. "About tomorrow…just don't kill anyone. I know it's going to be hard, but just try not to hurt anyone."

She returned her head to its original position.

He returned his attention to his cell phone and watched the seconds tick by. He only had half a minute, then twenty seconds, then ten.

_ To this is what it's like to know when Armageddon's coming._

He watched the last ten seconds fade away, and cursed under his breath.

"Well, today's gonna suck," he muttered, in what could be considered the greatest understatement ever made.

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"You know, I really hate getting up this early," muttered Serena, stifling a yawn between her lips. "It's unbearable! Why do they want us starting the stupid camp this early?"

0 shrugged. "I suppose they want to get as many people out as possible. I agree, I don't want this taking any more than a week of my time." He glanced around, noticing that a few bodies were walking into the battle arena. Among them he spotted 415, this time with short black hair and dark brown eyes. In her hands she was holding her Poke Ball. "So, did you hear anything about your position?"

Serena shook her head. "My termination is permanent, but right now I'm assigned as your partner regardless. So, you win some, you lose some." She glanced at her wrist, it felt so light. "Still, I miss it. I wonder how I'm going to be able to help you without my morpher." There was a sense of loneliness in her voice, 0 guessed it was because, deep in her heart, she missed Seel, so he didn't press the issue.

"When are Logan and Karin getting here?" he wondered and glanced at his watch. "They were supposed to be here by now."

"They'll be here, don't worry," Serena assured him. "Not all of us are freaks like you. Normal people need sleep. Plus, Logan's had a lot of stress on him lately with Karin and all that. I'm sure that Karin will get him here on time."

Sure enough, Logan and Karin emerged three minutes later, the former yawning incessantly. "Remind me again why we have to do this so early?" asked the Red Ranger, rubbing his eyes. "Geez…I barely got any sleep last night."

"Maybe you should go to bed earlier," suggested 0.

He shook his head. "It's not because of that," he replied and jerked his thumb at Karin. "It's her fault, she wouldn't leave me alone last night. She kept raking at my back and-" He would have continued, but he received a fist to his face that impeded his gigantic mouth from continuing, at least briefly.

"What time is it?" 0 asked his ranger spirit.

"It is half-past-five," reported Pi. "Let's get this started."

0 nodded and brought a loudspeaker to his lips. "All recruits! Assemble!" About eighty people trudged in his direction. He glanced them over, spotting 415 in the third row of the recruits. All of them had Poke Balls in their hands, as if waiting for the chance to use them. The Golden Ranger smirked, this was going to be fun.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, gesturing to himself and the others, "you are looking at the PKM Rangers, PKM's most elite fighting force. We are sent in for the most dangerous missions, the toughest assignments, and we always get the job done. I am the Golden Ranger, and my colleagues are the Red Ranger, the Pink Ranger, and the former White Ranger. We are the best of the best, and we are the four deciding which three among you will get to join our ranks. Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" shouted the entire group in unison. 0 was taken aback, he rather liked the role of the drill sergeant.

Logan took over, taking the loudspeaker from 0 and pulling his cap on backwards. "Listen up, newbies!" he bellowed, pointing at them. "All of you will be subjected to physical, psychological, and mental torture so extreme you'll think you're rushing a fraternity in college! The dangers that we rangers face are real, and it is our job to weed out all the weak and feeble until there are only three agents left standing to become PKM Rangers. Is that clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!" shouted the group again.

"Fantastic," said Logan. "Let us begin! May all the lady agents get naked, and could all the gent agents leave?" He was about to issue further instructions, but Karin dragged him off and he gained a new bruise on his shoulder.

0 took over, sighing. "Disregard that order," he ordered, noticing some agents beginning to follow Logan's request out of sheer stupidity. "And anyone actually idiotic to follow that order can leave right now." About ten disgruntled people, seven men and three women, departed the grounds and 0 smiled. This might be easy after all.

"We will begin with physical tests to determine the strongest agents here," announced Serena. "Before we test your bonds with your Pokemon, it is important to us that we make sure your bodies can handle the stress of some basic activities. We will begin in five minutes. Prepare yourselves."

0 sighed and turned to Logan. "What was the point of that?"

He pointed to the crowd, which now only had seventy-five people standing around doing stretches. "Counting the people who are late, whom we're cutting, and those bozos, we're down twenty-five percent of the morons we have to examine. Think of it as an early Christmas gift." Logan then focused his attention on Karin, who was merely staring down the crowd as a wild Pokemon might dinner. "And try not to be so rough next time, will ya?" She ignored him.

After five minutes, both Karin and 0 were ready, so Serena rounded up the group. "Okay, everybody, our first exam is very simple. You will be paired up against either Agent 0 or Agent 5, and you will be required to last one minute in combat with one of them. If they knock you out of the designated space, or they knock you out period, you are done, thanks for trying out."

0 decided to remove his shirt but retained his cap. Somehow, the golden and black hat was nostalgic, and he bent the brim over his goggles, not wanting the light to get in his way. Several of the people stared at the scars that covered his body, he wanted them to take in what it meant to be a ranger and the sacrifices that had to be made. His cybernetic shoulder was hardly noticeable, he had gotten used to the weight by now.

"Who's up to bat first?" he growled, just to scare some of them a little. Two actually fled from the sight of his muscles and his menacing scowl.

"0, try not to scare them too badly," Serena muttered, rubbing her brow.

"Want me to try smiling?" he asked politely, and did so, baring his teeth. He could practically smell the fear.

Because half of them had to fight him, they began lining up in the little cage they had set up for him. It was about the size of a single room, with six feet high wireframes to keep the challengers in, and so it would be harder for 0 to throw them out. Karin took her position in another cage and waited patiently for her first victim. Logan hovered nearby, transformed into his Rescue Mode in case things turned a bit ugly.

0 looked down at his first opponent, it was a five foot computer programmer who looked like he hadn't ever even seen the inside of a gym, let alone a combat field, unless it was in a video game. He put up his dukes, 0 had to admire that. Kid had spirit.

"L-Let's go," he said, his voice somewhat high.

0 took it easy on him and tossed him out of the ring in ten seconds. The kid hadn't looked like he'd wanted to be there and seemed extremely grateful he was allowed such a quick escape, because he took off from the battle arena, probably for his warm bed.

Meanwhile, Karin had choked her first victim into unconsciousness, resulting in widespread fear from the entire field of applicants. Still they came. Most of them were terrible, but there were some exceptions. There was Henderson, who lasted the minute and then some, requiring effort from the Golden Ranger to put down. There was even a woman who made it past named Taylor, who survived the round with Karin by dodging her and playing to Karin's weaknesses of needing something to react to.

Finally, 415 stepped into the ring with 0, shutting the cage behind her. The animals howled, they wanted him to tear her to pieces like he had their friends. He wouldn't. He'd fight her, but he wanted her to earn her stripes and advance.

"I have no intention of going easy on you," he said, as she approached him.

"Good," she replied, and assumed a defensive stance. "My status as a ranger will be meaningless if it is simply given to me. Make sure to fight well, 0."

0 nodded and charged forward. He blocked her first punch and smashed her across the face, sending her flying back. However, she didn't go down, and her face was still perfect. The Golden Ranger knew better than to think that she had been unharmed, the mask she wore was merely disguising her injuries.

He grabbed her and threw her across the cage. However, she held on, and the momentum he used she manipulated to hurl him to the ground. 0 recovered immediately, blocking a hit that she aimed at his back. He turned, anticipating her second attack, and grabbed her hand.

"You still have thirty seconds," he pointed out, tossing her casually to the ground. "Time to finish this."

He hauled her off the ground and slammed her into the cage walls. 415 grunted in annoyance, but did not have the brute strength to fight off the giant Golden Ranger. He scraped her up the wall, wanting an easy win with minimal struggle. However, this was not to be the case, as 415 grabbed hold of the wires that made up the chains and held firm, smashing into 0's stomach with her heel. The Golden Ranger grunted and released his grip. 415 climbed up the fence and leapt over 0, landing gracefully behind him in a defense pose, ready for the finale.

"Twenty seconds," he muttered.

415 didn't even see him coming, he was much too fast. It was the Agility technique, she knew that, but the fact that he internally unleashed it without a vocal command or physical cue made it impossible to predict now. He appeared behind her and delivered a momentum-enhanced punch that careened her into the wall again. She shouted, feeling the course of electricity jolt through her body. He, unknowingly, had shocked her.

She fell to the ground, the electricity was paralyzing her. Groaning, she forced herself back to her feet and stared him down. "Ten seconds," she growled, fighting through the pain. He nodded, it was time for their final moves.

He rushed forward again, it was all 415 could do to hold him back as he delivered a clothesline to her neck. She took it, actually jumping backwards to reduce the impact damage and grabbed his arm while he was still in mind-dash. She twisted, pushing every piece of her energy into her feet and turned the Golden Ranger, causing him to crash into the wall then burn a hole through it due to the electric discharge he was creating. He collapsed on the floor, visibly damaged by the amount of electric energy he had used.

"All out of time," 415 announced.

He nodded, answering, "I know." He tried moving his arm, it hurt a lot. 415 helped him get up and he dusted off his clothes. "That really hurt."

"How do you think I feel?" she asked. Her arms were still shaking and her hair was all on ends. She couldn't really feel her fingers either.

"Hang on," he muttered and touched her head. He concentrated, trying to summon the electricity that he seemed to be able to control. In moments, he took the discharged electricity back into his body, removing all effects of it from 415's body. "There we go. Good as new, except for the bruises, right?"

"Do you see any bruises on my face?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing but the image of perfection, 415. Go get 3 to sign your thing saying you passed." She bowed once and reported properly to his partner.

"Did you just use an electric attack?" asked one of the remaining candidates, a tone of fear in his voice. "You know, like a Pokemon?"

0 shrugged. "No comment," he replied cheerfully, then gave a menacing smile. "Now, who's next?"

Every remaining candidate took a step back as 0 marched back through the sizzling hole in his cage.

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At the end of the day, the remaining candidates numbered only a brave twenty.

0, Serena, Logan, and Karin watched as the remaining twenty formed into a single square shape, a platoon, with four rows of five, and snapped off salutes to their rangers. 0 waved them down and brought up the loudspeaker to his lips. "Ladies and gentlemen," he announced, "stand at ease." Instantly, the agents relaxed, as they no longer had to stand at the uncomfortable position of attention. "You are the last twenty left standing. Congratulations, you've made it past the first day of ranger camp!" Nobody cheered, in fear of being sent home for acting like an idiot. "From you, we will be weeding out seventeen until we settle on the best three to become new PKM Rangers. Special barracks have been provided for you, and you will be led there by the Red Ranger and the Pink Ranger in just a moment. Be ready tomorrow at five in the morning, on the dot. That is all."

Like a good little flock of Mareep, they trudged off to the exit and waited for their escorts. Logan whispered something to Serena, who nodded and motioned to Karin, who followed her down to the recruits. Logan, meanwhile, walked up to 0.

"We gotta talk," he muttered. "Serena can handle Karin for a little while, but you and me need to have a little chat."

0 nodded, unsure of what it was that was so serious Logan needed to speak to him privately. "Sure, Logan," he said, and led the Red Ranger down an alternate route. "What's the problem?"

"It's Karin…" He rubbed the back of his head, quite unsure of how to say what he needed to say. "Well, it's about Karin."

"What's about Karin?" 0 asked.

"Well…you and I may need to fight her."

"Why?"

"Well, let's just say that I officially ran out of time today," he muttered vaguely. "And because of that, Karin's going to go ballistic in a few hours. Remember how I mentioned that, even though she can't stand me, she's very possessive?"

0 nodded. "But what does that mean?"

"I don't want to go into details. Just promise me you'll be ready to fight later tonight. There's a good chance it'll probably go down in the evening, maybe after eight or so. That's when we have to be ready."

"If it's really that important," 0 replied. "Should I alert Bakaguru and 3?"

Logan shook his head. "No, let's keep it between us for now, chances are good they'll find out in a little while anyway. Just makes sure you're ready, we'll probably need that special system of yours too." He nodded his head, then headed off where Serena and Karin had walked off to, wanting to collect Karin before anything potentially bad happened.

0 scratched his head. "What's up with him?" he asked.

"Good question," Pi replied, as it researched the information on the Red Ranger. "That's really not like him. Something must have really set him off to be worried about Karin like that."

"Well, he likes her, I guess he doesn't want to see her get hurt by whatever this is that's going to happen."

"Huh, that's odd," Pi muttered.

"What?"

"Well, according to the unclassified files on Logan, it actually states that today is his birthday," Pi explained. "He is twenty-five."

"Really?" 0 asked. "A guy with that big of an ego…I wonder why he hasn't mentioned it."

"Good question. Want to ask him?"

He shrugged. "Maybe later, I'm sure he has his own reasons for keeping it to himself. Come on, all this fighting's really made me thirsty, and I really need to take my serum tonight."

"Aren't you supposed to spend tonight with May and Sarah?" it asked.

He nodded. "Yep, we get to have a whole night to ourselves for once. Bakaguru is seeing to it." He was really excited too, it was going to be the first day he had been promised no interruptions from Bakaguru. "But if Logan needs me…"

"Are you going to put your work over your family?"

He shrugged. "It's a tough call. I don't want to make the same mistakes, but at the same time I don't want Karin to go crazy." Sometimes he got really frustrated by his job. "What do you think I should do?"

"How about what makes you happy?" Pi suggested. "You never do that."

"An excellent suggestion," 0 decided, and headed off to shower. He turned the corner, however, and noticed that someone was definitely waiting for him. 415 emerged from the shadows.

"415," 0 muttered. "What's wrong? You're supposed to be at the barracks with the rest of the candidates."

"I…need help," she replied. "Tomorrow is the test with the Pokemon, correct?"

0 nodded.

"Then I need help. The Luxray…I am worried that if I release it I will be attacked for capturing it." She lifted up the Poke Ball. "It seems to have an angry aura."

"That might be a problem for you," 0 agreed. "But you'll have to do it on your own. Tonight I'm supposed to go on this family thing with May and Sarah, so I really can't-" She glared at him, which made him take a step back.

"You have to. No one else has the proper skill set to train me. You are, and believe me how difficult it is for me to admit it, the best trainer in PKM. You must be my tutor." She was using a tone that 0 was unfamiliar with, at least from her. 415 was desperate indeed. "Please. I need your help."

"Pi, how much time can I spare?" 0 asked.

"Bakaguru said you had after seven. Two hours," it replied.

He nodded and stated back into the arena. "Okay, that's how long we have, 415. Two hours, so let's get training now."

He faced her. "Release your Pokemon," he ordered.

"But-"

He ignored her. "Release it now, 415! I do not have time to argue with you."

Unwillingly, she did as he commanded. The ball exploded and the Luxray snarled viciously. It was quite angry, but stayed put beside its trainer. 0 walked up, ignoring its very, very sharp fangs, which it was quite good at baring, and bent down in front of it.

"_Ray, Lux_," growled 0, introducing himself.

"What are you doing?" 415 asked.

"Shut up," he retorted, and refocused his attention on the Pokemon. Its eyes had widened, astonished that the Golden Ranger was capable of speaking its language. It replied through a softer, but still defensive, growl, and 0 nodded as he listened. He glanced up at 415 when it finished. "It says that you have no right to train it, as it was I who did your battling. It will not obey you until you face it in combat."

He returned his attention to Luxray and issued a growl. Slowly, the Pokemon nodded, so 0 grinned. "Well, all you have to do is fight it, 415. Simple as that. If you win, it will help you and bond to you."

415 hesitated. "But it is a Pokemon," she pointed out.

"Why does that matter?" 0 asked. "It is your partner. You train with your partner."

415 nodded, but still looked unsure.

0 growled irritably, he really didn't have time for this! "Look, 415, if I took the time to tell you how many times I've been electrocuted, frozen, burnt, or hurt while training my Pokemon, we would have no time to train. You can fight me, you can fight Luxray." He cracked his knuckles and stood up. "Learn by doing, 415."

She was stunned at the transformation the Golden Ranger had made, from the easy-going fighter to a serious, determined trainer. In the light of the arena too…he looked almost like his predecessor.

"If you are afraid, you should quit now. As a ranger you will have to fight the Dark Gems. They will fight, they will kill, they will do anything it takes to win. If you aren't ready to spar with your own Pokemon, then what good will you be to us in a battle?" 0 started walking, he'd given her enough of his time. "You have to deal with Pokemon, 415. It's not the overnight process you want it to be, but this'll be a start. Show it some damn respect."

He left.

The agent and the Pokemon stared at one another, neither sure of what to do. 415 did not want to fight, Luxray could think of nothing but that. It wanted revenge for being stripped of its home and bound to the girl. And for what? So she could become something? No, it wanted a fair chance to extract its pound of flesh. It growled and started circling her like a piece of meat, eager for blood.

415 bit her lips, and tried desperately to imagine she was fighting something else.

The Luxray snarled and leapt into the air, aiming to take out a chunk of 415's arm.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Several hours later, Armageddon began.

The woman that emerged from the door was neither large nor threatening looking. She looked very much like Logan, only she was a head shorter with slightly longer hair. She pushed her glasses up to the rim of her nose and smiled. "Hello, little Dreas," Mrs. Logan murmured. "Your father should be inside in a moment, he's just getting the things from the truck with Ariel."

"Ariel's…here?" Logan asked. His face turned an unhealthy shade of red.

"Who is Ariel, Logan?" 0 asked.

"She's…well…" Logan glanced from him to his mother to Karin, who was watching the scene unfold with an almost concerning amount of interest.

"She's his fiancée!" explained Mrs. Logan.

"She is not my fiancée, Mom!" exclaimed Logan, waving his arm angrily. "That's just what you like to call her because we dated in high school! Why is she here, anyway? She's not supposed to be at PKM headquarters!"

Mrs. Logan pretended not to hear Logan's claims. "Well, your father worked his magic with the Council, so she was debriefed. Oh, she's so excited to see her Red Ranger, Dreas! I think she'll be in here in a moment."

"Great," groaned Logan, as he noticed Karin's hands clenching into fists. "Look, think we can hold that off for a little while? I think we need to prevent a probable bloodbath." 0 stepped forward as well. "Oh, Mom, did you get a chance to meet the new Golden Ranger yet?" He shoved 0 forward, to which the Golden Ranger responded with a small glare in his ally's direction before forcing a smile in the direction of Mrs. Logan.

"How do you do?" asked 0. "I'm the new Golden Ranger, Logan's superior."

Mrs. Logan allowed him to shake her hand. "How nice to meet you, 0," she replied politely. "I knew the old Golden Ranger too, he was quite a good poker player if I recall. Good trainer too, now that I think of it. I was so sad to hear that he passed. But it looks like you'll be a good successor."

0 nodded. "Oh, I'm trying," he assured her.

A moment later, a gentleman who also looked like Logan appeared, holding several of the bags in one of his hands. Despite their weight, he didn't seem to be having much trouble with them, so 0 didn't offer to assist, though Logan took some of the bags from his father immediately. Mr. Logan also wore glasses, but his eyes glared red from behind the spectacles just like Logan's eyes did.

Both father and son sized one another up.

"Good to see you, son," Mr. Logan said.

Logan smiled. "You too, Dad. Let's get you guys to your room."

"Wait for meeeeeee!"

Arriving with half the speed of 0's Agility, a blur of feminine wiles emerged and tackled the Red Ranger to the ground, getting past all of his years of training for surprise attacks and knocking every bag he was carrying to the ground. Both 0 and Karin were astonished, and stepped back to watch the Red Ranger struggle to escape from the clutches of the lady Ariel, who ignored how crumpled her dress was becoming to tighten the grip of her hug.

Ariel was by no means unattractive, goodness no. A natural dirty blond with elbow length hair, she squeezed her blue eyes tight shut as she squeezed the oxygen from Logan's body. He began to suffocate, wondering why it was his destiny to die in the powerful embrace of Ariel's vice grip, when Karin, unable to tolerate the scene any further, grabbed her partner and fished her out of Ariel's grasp. He took a deep breath, his face as red as a cherry, before Karin viciously slapped him and moved in between the Red Ranger and his devoted 'fiancée'. Ariel reacted in a manner that 0 found astonishingly akin to 415's Luxray.

"What do you think you're doing, interrupting my reunion with Dreas?" Ariel demanded to know, stomping her heels onto the floor. "Who are you, anyway? Nobody said anything about you." She studied Karin, who stared her dead in the face like a zombie contemplating what part to eat as an appetizer.

"This is Karin Karino," muttered Logan, his face still stinging from the slap he knew he didn't deserve this time, "she is my partner, the Pink Ranger. Please, whatever you do, do not anger her further. She will kill you."

Karin seemed to agree with this threat, as her knuckles turned white from how hard she had made her fists. "Karin, let this one go," he pleaded. "She does not know how we operate. She apologizes-"

"I will do no such-"

"She does!" Logan shouted.

"Dreas, keep your voice down!" ordered Mrs. Logan, incurring the attention of Karin. The Pink Ranger turned slowly to the older woman, sizing her up as well. Mr. Logan, in a very wise move, remained absolutely silent, but did go to pick up some of the bags that had been tossed.

"Logan, what exactly is going on?" 0 asked. Everyone turned to him and each gave him a look 0 normally reserved for only his stupidest foes.

"You really can't tell?" the Red Ranger replied, with an air of confusion.

0 shook his head. Logan sighed.

"It's quite simple, 0," said Mrs. Logan cheerfully. "Today is Dreas' twenty-fifth birthday! He's getting married this week, so that soon I can be Grandma Logan."

0 paused, unsure if he had heard correctly. "You…want Logan to breed? That's a terrible idea."

"But I must have a grandchild," insisted Mrs. Logan. "Dreas has been slacking with his deadline, so I brought Ariel here to jog his memory about his commitments to the family. We of the Logan clan are always married young, because we must produce heirs Without heirs, the power of perfect vision will die from the world. Our clan is the only one with it, and it is only given to the male heir. Dreas and his father are the only ones with the power."

Mr. Logan adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps this is something best discussed later, dear. It was a long flight, I'm sure everyone would like to get some sleep. After all, the party's being held tomorrow, and I want to be rested."

"But dear-" Mr. Logan shushed his wife, gave a wink to his son, and led Mrs. Logan and Ariel down the hallway, knowing exactly where to go. Soon, only Logan, Karin, and 0 were left standing in the hallway.

"Karin, I realize that you are angry," Logan began, "but it would be amazing if I could live through the night."

Karin dragged him off into the hallway. Logan saluted 0, then began to pray.

0 shrugged, then turned around and started running back to his room. If he hurried, he could still make his date with May and Sarah! He practically ran through agents as he dashed back home. Numerous times people went flying into the air due to their complete failure to get out of his way. But after plowing, dodging, and overwhelming the dozens who stood before him, the Golden Ranger finally arrived at his door. He practically smashed down the door in his eagerness to get inside.

When he did, he found his family waiting.

Sarah's head rested softly on her mother's knee, May herself sitting calmly over a cup of tea. 0 shut the door carefully, not wanting to wake his daughter. May did that, gently nudging her cheek. Sarah blinked, but smiled when she saw her father sitting down next to her.

"Daddy!" she squealed, and hugged him. 0 smiled. "Why were you late? I got sleepy?"

0 shrugged. "Just saving the world, honey," he explained. "Somehow."

May kissed him on the cheek. He blushed and Sarah made a disgusted noise. "Welcome home, 0," she said. "We already ate though." She gestured at the table, the plates were quite empty. "We figured you wouldn't mind."

"That reminds me!" 0 muttered and pulled out his serum. "I need to take my medicine!" He placed it in the syringe trigger and pulled up his sleeve. He let out a deep sigh of satisfaction as the medicine worked its way through his system and put the syringe and now-empty serum container into his jacket. "Much better."

He sprawled out on the bed, feeling his energies reviving as they always did. Soon his exhaustion would be gone and he would be able to relax as his family drifted off into slumber.

"Daddy?"

He looked down. "Yes, Sarah?"

"What did you just do?"

He furrowed his brows. "I…took some medicine, Sarah. It's special medicine that I need because I can't sleep."

"Does it help you sleep?"

0 shook his head. "No, Sarah. It helps keep me up, so I can keep protecting you, your mother, and the rest of our family."

Sarah accepted that answer and hugged her father. May smiled and opened a small bottle of beer for 0, who spent the next hour keeping it away from Sarah while the little girl tried her best to take a sip. Eventually, however, even Sarah's vast reserves of energy finally tapped out and the Golden Ranger's daughter went right to sleep.

"What time is it?" May asked.

0 checked his morpher. "Ten-thirty," he said.

"We really should be getting back to our room. And you have such a big day tomorrow choosing those new rangers."

He nodded. "Sure." He helped May pick up Sarah and put his daughter in her arms. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, 0." May kissed him goodbye and shut the door behind him.

0 stared at the floor. "You all right, 0?" Pi asked.

"Never better, buddy."

"You want them to move in, huh?" asked the Pikachu. 0 nodded. "Why didn't you ask her?"

"We're just getting back together. I don't want to rush her or anything." He sat on the floor and sighed. "I just need to make sure I'm not making the same mistakes I made last time. I'm being given a second chance, I can't screw up again."

"Things are different this time, though. She knows what you did and why. She's seen you as a hero."

"She's seen me like that before I was a ranger too. Remember when we were kids? I saved the world almost every year it seemed. Now I just save it with a flashy suit."

"But you still save it. And you saved them."

The Golden Ranger nodded. "The suit's still too flashy, though."

"So, what do you think Logan's going to do?"

0 shrugged. "Guess he's got to get married to that Ariel girl. I don't get why he needed me there though. Karin didn't do anything to her. His mom was kind of intense."

"I wonder if he'll confess to Karin."

"Knowing him it'll be in a really dramatic, over-the-top stunt. He doesn't take anything seriously."


	24. Morph 24

**Morph Twenty-Four: The Best Distraction Ever**

The flicker of light in his hand dimmed. With each moment, the Dark Gem pulsated, in perfect unison with his heartbeat. He held it in front of him, it was the only light he had in the dank cavern. Water dripped from the rocky ceiling and splashed on the ground in front of him.

"Where am I?" Max asked the darkness. Nothing answered.

He was dreaming, of that he was certain. It was too vivid, too surreal, to be reality. He took a step forward into the darkness, but felt no sense of accomplishment. He looked down and realized he had stepped in someone else's footprint. Someone else with his exact shoe size. Whatever his dream was about, it didn't involve him moving from his position. So he stared ahead, waiting for something to happen.

"Hello, Eme," said a voice in the cave. Max looked around, trying to find the voice's origin. "So nice to see you again."

"Yes," said another voice. "So good to see you. We were wondering if we'd see you again."

Max's hand closed around the Dark Emerald. "Who are you? Why are you in my head?"

"Good question." It was the first voice again, a slimy noise that made Max's skin crawl. "Isn't that right, Bix?"

"Quite right, Axi," replied the second voice, with a loud cackle. "Who are we? Why are we here, anyway?"

"Hee hee, isn't this so much fun?" Axi murmured. "The not knowing, the secrets, the utter ignorance! It's so cool! I wish I didn't know why we were here." Footsteps issued and two figured emerged. The two identical men grinned, and the one with the longer hair had the bigger smile.

"Should we even tell it, Big Brother?" asked Bix.

"We really think it should know."

"What's going on?" shouted Max. His Dark Gem pulsated wildly, and for the briefest instant the entire cavern was colored bright emerald. "Don't make me beat it out of you."

Axi laughed and brushed his silver hair. "Adorable isn't it? It thinks it has even the slightest chance against us. How cute."

"Very cute," agreed Bix. His green eyes looked over Max and he licked his lips.

"We're very, very angry with you, little boy," said Axi. "Very angry indeed. Sap was a sap, but at least he was a useful one. So much passion for his work. So much dedication put to waste…" The man sighed, then giggled again. "If only you hadn't helped kill him, we wouldn't be having this conversation. We knew we should have had Ame finish the job, she gets things done in such a better way."

"So much better, she still has most of her sanity left. One of the few, I'd say."

"Yes, one of the few."

"You see, it's so very hard to keep your sanity. I'm afraid it's one of the hazards of being bonded to a Dark Gem! Don't worry, I'm sure you'll feel the effects sooner…"

"…or later," finished Bix. "Every one of us does. Why, did you know that only four or so years ago, we were as sane as anybody? Did you know that?" He draped his arms over his brother and giggled. "But we digress. This isn't why we've come."

The Dark Emerald flashed as Max growled. "Get out of my head now," he ordered.

Axi shook his head. "Afraid we can't do that, little boy. We need you for our ragtag team. We've lost one member, we need somebody to replace Sap. And that's you, Eme. With you, our team is back to six members again. And six is such a nice number, isn't it Bix?"

"It is, Axi."

"Stop talking!" Max shouted. His eyes shifted to the deepest shade of green. The Dark Emerald was whispering to him again, asking if he wanted the people to leave. "I don't want to be a part of you freaks. I'm going to be a PKM Ranger!"

Bix laughed. "You think those PKM freaks will let you in? You're a Dark Gem, just like us Eme. They'll never accept one of us into their gang. They'll use you in the lab until they find out everything about you, and then they'll kill you when you're useless."

"They won't. 0 promised he would stand up for me. He doesn't go back on his word."

"Golden Boy is the losing side, Eme. He can't even control his own powers. He'll eventually self-destruct, then who will be left to protect you?"

"Serena, May, all of them. They won't let me be used as a lab rat. Now get out of my head." Emerald fire flickered from his body. "I won't ask you again."

"Cute, Eme. But remember that you'll need us someday. And when it comes, we'll make you one of us. You'll turn on all your friends, all your family, and you'll become just like us."

"That we promise, Eme."

"Stop calling me that!" Max roared and clenched his fists. The emerald fire exploded around him, transforming into Gallade's aura. "You're making us very angry." The chain began to lengthen, wrapping around his arms. "Get out of my head!"

Then, Max woke up in a pool of sweat.

He was lying on the floor tangled amid his sheets. Panting, he returned to his bed, but his dream haunted him. After ten minutes of struggling for sleep, he finally gave up any hope and just got up. He dressed in some of the clothes PKM had given him and headed out to the gym, hoping to get some sort of relief through physical activity. He got lost twice, but eventually managed to find his way there.

Inside was 0, training hard by viciously smashing against a punching bag. Two broken ones stood to the side of the room and sand covered the floor. The Golden Ranger paused at the sound of Max opening the door and turned towards the Dark Gem Ranger.

"Max," he said and nodded in greeting. "What are you doing up? It's almost three in the morning."

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. I thought if I came in here I'd work up some exhaustion."

"Good idea." 0 stepped to the side to allow Max use of the punching bag. His body glistened with sweat, all save for the metal plate that made up his right shoulder. He scratched his head and watched as Max hesitantly looked at the punching bag and tapped it with his fist, gauging its weight.

"How heavy is this?" Max asked.

"Don't know. They make them specially for me, since I'm too strong for the normal ones." He looked down to the broken bags on the ground and sighed. "Guess I have to tell them to up the weight again. Those didn't last long, either."

Max smashed the bag. It swung in a low arc. "I had a weird dream," he said suddenly as he watched the bag sway in the air.

"That's one of the reasons I don't sleep. What was it about?"

"It was about my Dark Gem. There were two guys too, Axi and Bix. I think they have Dark Gems too. They were talking about Sappho, I think."

"Interesting. What'd they say?"

"Something about the Dark Emerald. They said it's going to drive me insane, and that you won't help me when PKM doesn't need me anymore." He looked up at the Golden Ranger. "Is that true, 0?" he asked. "Be straight with me."

"I don't know," 0 admitted. "Bakaguru is trying to keep you as an Auxiliary Ranger, but it doesn't look good. The Council isn't ready to trust a Dark Gem Ranger, even one that's allied himself with them. You've only been deployed into active combat once, and under my supervision. I don't even know what will happen if you're let loose on your own."

"So I'm just going to be a lab rat until you've got everything figured out?"

"No. Right now, things are a little crazy with 3 and this whole ranger camp thing. Once it's cooled down, I can put you on the team that'll be guarding May and Sarah. Or try to, at least. 3's already on board, but since she's not going to be a ranger anymore that leaves me with one partner less. I want you there with your family, Max. I won't let this Dark Gem be a reason to keep you away from them."

Max nodded and hit the punching bag again. "That's how you felt, wasn't it?" he asked. "This job, that morpher… You hated it for what it did to you, for what it made you give up. Right?"

0 nodded. "I did. PKM makes us give up some things for the power to protect the ones we love. I gave up my family because of them, I don't want you doing the same. We're both here because of accidents. We shouldn't have to pay for them." He smashed the punching bag and the bag tore open, sending millions of pieces of sand crashing to the ground. "Great, not another one."

"How is the camp going?"

"Not bad. We're winding them down to the last few applicants."

"Do you think 415's going to make it?"

0 shrugged. "That's up to her and her Luxray." A noise issued through the gym. "Hang on, it's Pi…what's going on, Pi?" He raised his hand and touched the com-link in his ear. "Yeah, I get it. We're on our way now." He looked down, his face quite serious.

"What's up?" Max asked.

"Bakaguru wants to see me. You might as well come too."

"Sure." He followed 0 down the corridors and to the testing facility that was Bakaguru's lair.

The engineer himself was standing in front of his testing table with several half-finished Ailed Morpher prototypes on it. He looked up from a red-and-black model as he noticed the two coming. "0," he muttered as he glanced towards Max, "what is he doing here? I thought I told Pi to only bring you."

"Why?" asked 0. "What's wrong?"

Bakaguru's attention shifted from one ranger to another. "I needed to speak to you about Serena," he said. He removed his glasses and lifted them to his lab coat's lapel to wipe them. "I have received word from the Council that they intend to terminate her as your partner and assign the new White Ranger to her position." He looked to Max as he adjusted his glasses. "Furthermore, they have also made a verdict regarding Max Birch, Auxiliary Ranger 6."

"What did they say about me?" Max asked.

"They have denied my request to place you on the team protecting May Birch with the Golden Ranger. They have also refused to recognize you as an official ranger for our organization. You are, in their words, 'too dangerous to place in the field at this time'. You will be incarcerated for testing once the new rangers have been determined."

There was a brief silence, before 0 clenched his fists and hissed. "They want to do what now?" he asked rhetorically. Max noticed a spark shoot out from his knuckles. "They can't put Max in prison, and they can't remove 3 as my assistant. Even if she's not a ranger, I need her on my team. Can't they just make her my handler, and put Max as support for the team?"

"I am afraid not," Bakaguru answered with a shake of his head. "I am not even supposed to be telling you this information. I tell you it only because I have determined that you are running out of alternatives to protect your family and friends, Gold." He looked around, but nothing outside of the three men was in the lab. "Do you still want to keep them with you, boy?"

0 nodded. "The Council has taken enough from me. I'm not letting my family and friends get away again. What are we going to do?"

Bakaguru smiled sadly. "Ah, I knew you would say that, Gold. You've always been such a hothead, but this time it will serve your needs. There is but one option that I foresee possible, but it will require sacrifices from everyone involved."

"I'm willing."

"So am I," said Max. "I'm not spending my life in a prison cell."

Bakaguru rose from his table and walked to a desk nearby. Using a key from his coat he opened one of the drawers and produced a small box. "This is what we are going to do," he said, and put it on the table. "This box contains the chips that will power all of the Ailed Morphers." He opened it, displaying several differently colored chips. "I will place the chips inside the morphers when they are completed. It will require you to surrender your morpher for a period of at least forty-eight hours. During that time, you will be unable to morph, but when it's over, you'll get your powers back. The Council intends to use this time as leverage to make the necessary changes to your team and incarcerate Max."

"Understood."

Bakaguru picked out a chip from inside the box, a gold-and-black one. "This is the chip that will go into your Ailed Morpher, and this-" He paused and pulled an identical chip out of his coat "-is a fake. We are going to begin the sequencing for your Ailed Morpher early. That way, when the Council attempts to make good on their threat, you will have more firepower than both the Red and Pink Rangers as well as anything else PKM can throw at you."

0 studied the chip. "You know what this means, right? We'd be rebelling against PKM itself. If we were caught, if someone found out…that'd be it."

"You guys want to take on this whole place by yourself?" Max asked.

"Not by ourselves. That would be foolish." Bakaguru put the chip back into the box. "We will have two, possibly three rangers, by our side."

"Who's the third ranger? We only have me and 0."

"It depends. I have ideas, nothing more. Gold, how is 415 doing in ranger camp?"

0 scratched his head. "I don't really know. She passed through the initial testing without any problems, but I'm worried she won't be up to the task of working with her Luxray. It's still only responding to me. She needs to gain its trust, or else she won't be able to successfully bond with her ranger spirit. If she overcomes that I can see her becoming a ranger, but if she can't she'll be dropped from the program. Maybe if I gave her some more training she'd be able to bond with it."

"A good idea, but I have a better one. I thought it would be a good job for Max here," said Bakaguru as he turned to the Dark Gem Ranger.

"M-Me?"

Bakaguru nodded. "Yes. 415 already has issues with Gold that supersede any efforts on the Golden Ranger's part to help her. We need someone who has a very strong bond with a Pokemon, like a Dark Gem Ranger. The Gallade that powers your Dark Emerald fuses you to it. You are merged with a Pokemon in a way that the ranger spirits cannot even accomplish. It is this unique fusion technique that gives you a fresh perspective on the bond between Pokemon and ranger. Plus, you are young, and still new to all this. She'll respond better to you helping her than 0's training methods."

Max nodded. "If I can do anything, I'll help."

"Good boy. Finally, I have told no one about this plan. This is between the three of us for now. When I feel the time is right, I will tell Serena and 415. Gold, you must promise me that May and Sarah won't know anything, and neither will Ms. Birch's parents. The more people that know, the better the chance that we will be discovered."

"Okay," said 0. "When do we start the sequencing for my Ailed Morpher?"

"I have been developing your morpher ahead of schedule. I expect it to be completed shortly, but I can't go too fast. It should be ready within the next few days, well ahead of the intended plans for Serena and Max. I will delay Karin and Logan's morphers, as well as the incoming rangers, from being active for as long as I can."

"Bakaguru?"

"Yes?"

"What happens to you when this is over?" 0 asked. "You'll never be able to work for PKM again. They'll realize you were the one who did this."

Bakaguru chuckled. "Don't presume anything, boy. I have already made plans for myself. Max, I believe that 415 can be found in the training fields. You should go now. Gold, go get ready for today. The agent-Pokemon compatibility tests will be beginning today, I want you and the others ready."

"Okay," 0 said. "Let's go, Max."

"Sure."

As the two left, Bakaguru turned back to his desk. Six morphers stared back at him, all almost perfect, almost ready. "Old friend," he muttered as he reached for his tools, "this is a truly terrifying thing you brought into the world. I hope your successor knows what to do with it." He leaned into the Gold Ailed Morpher and began his work.

He paused, and looked over his shoulder. His paranoia was getting to him, this plotting and scheming simply didn't sound like him. He chuckled, it sounded like the old Gold, speaking through him.

"Old fool," he muttered and reached into his pocket. He withdrew what looked like an old watch, weathered by time and neglect. "Even after all these years, I can't put this down." He looked around again, ensuring no one was there, before he set the watch on the table and opened the box with the Ailed Morpher chips. Again he saw six differently colored parts inside. He lifted them out and placed them one-by-one near their respective morphers. One for Gold, Red, Blue, White, Black, and Pink.

What was left in the box looked like soft foam to keep the chips from being damaged. He lifted the foam to reveal a final, seventh chip, at the bottom. Bakaguru lifted the chip and placed it next to the old watch.

"This will be my final creation, won't it?" he asked no one. The chip just sat on the table, next to his watch. "Reminds me of old times." He grinned as he got back to work.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Max found 415 on the ground with cuts all over her body. Across from her, pawing at the earth, stood the Luxray. Its growls, aside from the short gasps from 415, were all Max could hear in the battle arena.

"You okay?" he asked. She ignored him and got back on her feet. "You look like you should take a break."

"Not all of us have a healing factor. What are you doing here?"

"Thought you might like some company."

"I do not." She jumped back to her feet, though she almost fell over due to the effort it took. "Go away, you're distracting me."

"What exactly are you doing?"

"Training." She glared at Luxray, who merely gave her a small snarl and pawed at the earth again. "What do you want?"

"I figured you might want some company," he said.

She snorted. "Bakaguru sent you."

"Kinda. How long have you been out here?"

"Twenty-eight hours, forty-five minutes, thirty-seven seconds. I have less than three hours until the bonding test with Luxray. I must defeat it by then."

Max looked over at the Pokemon, it didn't seem even remotely tired. "Mind if she takes a break?" he asked it. "We'll get some food and get right back to this." It simply hissed, but nodded its head.

"What are you talking about?" Despite her insistence on continuing, Max could see that she was tired, almost at the end of her rope. "I need to finish this."

"You need rest, come on." 415 glared at him, and tried to smack him in the face, but the Dark Emerald warned him. He blocked her blow easily. "You're not going to win against me. Not in the state you're in." He grabbed the Poke Ball on her belt and recalled the Luxray. She growled, but was unable to do anything to stop him. He put her arm over his shoulder and led her out from the battle arena.

"So, do you know where the cafeteria is?" he asked.

"You do not know?"

"Well, not exactly. I mean, this is a really big place. It's easy to get lost."

"Are you sure you were not just sent here to annoy me?"

"Pretty sure. Is it to the left?" She groaned, but nodded, so Max helped her down the hall until at last he smelt the scent of fresh breakfast being prepared. "Here we go," he said and opened the door for her. He sat her down in one of the chairs and filled up two plates of food for both of them. He set hers on the placemat in front of her and began wolfing down his plate.

"You always eat like that?" she asked. She stared at the tantalizing plate before her, but refused to eat any of it.

"More or less. I used to work out a lot with my Pokemon when I was a Gym Leader. Now that I've got the Dark Emerald, it's kinda like I'm eating for two." He paused from his meal and set down his fork. "Wow, that really didn't sound right."

415 didn't laugh, but grabbed a piece of bacon and chewed on the end.

"So, do you even have a name?" Max asked in between chunks of pancakes.

415 looked up. "Huh?"

"A name. All I know about you is that you wear a hologram mask and you hate people. Don't you…have a name or something?"

"I have a designation. It is all I need."

"That can't be enough. What's your face really look like?"

"What is it to you, Dark Gem?" She glared at him, today her eyes were blue and her hair was long and blond, tucked into a ponytail. "You are just an experiment. Nothing less, and certainly nothing more. My face is nothing to be interested in, Dark Gem, and even if it was, you are far too insignificant to deserve to see it."

Max kept eating. "You're really screwed up, huh?"

"No."

"Then why do you wear a mask all the time?"

"Because I am an intelligence officer. It is important that my identity is concealed at all times."

"But you're not anymore, or you won't be, anyway." Max pointed his fork, dripping with syrup, and grinned. "You're going to be a ranger."

"If I become a ranger. Somebody interrupted my training."

"Big deal. Everybody needs a break."

"I am not everybody."

"You're not anybody. No name, no face, no nothing. What about hobbies?"

"Does smoking count as a hobby?"

"I think that's an addiction, not a hobby."

"Then no. My work is my life."

"Then why are you pushing yourself to be a ranger? I just can't figure out why you would want something so badly you'd be willing to risk so much pain and at the same time say that you're just a blank slate. There's gotta be something to you that gives you the drive to do the ranger camp and to want to be on 0's team."

"I want nothing to do with that man. I will be a ranger, but not because of him."

"What's the big deal with being a ranger anyway?" Max wondered. He was almost finished with his plate. "Since I've been one it's just been nothing but trouble. Weird voices in my head, tests…it's harder than school."

"That is because you are incompetent. Just like Gold."

"He's not incompetent. He's just new to this like I am."

Finally, 415 gave in and began eating. "He is not new to this. He donned the uniform before he became the permanent Golden Ranger. He knew what he was getting into, just like I do. Neither of you have any excuse for your weaknesses."

"What?" Max set down his fork. "I have no idea what's going on with me. All I have is psycho talk from the people who want to kill my sister. Who knows what's going to happen to me?"

"I have a pretty good idea. If we are lucky, it involves you not speaking to me again." She pushed away her plate, having eaten very little.

"You've barely touched your food," said Max. "You feeling okay?"

"I require little sustenance." She rose from the table. "Thank you for interrupting my training. Now I have to go make up the time I have lost."

"Hang on, I'll go with you." Max stood up and, despite 415's unwillingness, she could do nothing to stop him from following her back to the battle arena. Despite the rest and food, she was still injured. When they got back, she released Luxray again.

It growled and pawed the earth, eager for battle.

"Let me help you," Max muttered. "There's no way you can take on something like this on your own."

"What can you do? It will only obey me if I defeat it."

"I can help." Max's Dark Emerald found its way into his hand and he tightened his grip on the pulsating gem. "One of the things I learned as a Gym Leader was that you need to respect your Pokemon. It's not a tool, it's not a weapon. It's a partner. If you keep fighting it like you have been, it's only going to resent you and never take you seriously."

"But Gold said that-"

"-0's a good trainer, but he only knows how to do things one way: by trial and error. When he was younger, he would always do the same thing over and over again until he finally did it right. It's a good idea if you want to train a Pokemon to use an attack or a battle strategy, but it's not always the best approach. Sometimes to win a war you have to lose a battle."

He wrapped the chains around his arms and pressed the Dark Gem into his flesh. "_Dark Gem Ignite_." In an instant, the Dark Emerald Ranger towered over the Luxray, flexing its muscles at the Pokemon.

"Dark Gem, get away from-" 415 stopped talking, as the ranger shifted its attention onto her and softly growled.

"_Laaade_," it whispered. It did not wish to be disturbed, and 415 was wise enough to not provoke Max. Satisfied it had made its point, the Dark Emerald Ranger turned to the Luxray and lowered itself to the Pokemon's level.

The two conversed for a minute or so, during which time 415 wasn't sure if he was trying to argue on her behalf or suggesting they try to double-team her in a fight.

Finally, the Dark Emerald Ranger stood up and nodded its head. It motioned for 415 to back away, something she didn't do until it growled a second time. The Dark Emerald Ranger braced itself, stretching its hands out like claws. It growled a third time, its visor staring directly at the Pokemon.

The Luxray pounced, digging its fangs into the Dark Emerald Ranger's chest. 415 could only watch as electricity sparked across her Pokemon's skin and coursed through the Dark Emerald Ranger. But the ranger merely growled and, ignoring the pain, smashed its arm against the side of the Luxray's head. The Pokemon screamed and released its grip, allowing the dark ranger to wrestle it to the ground.

"_Laaaaade_," it snarled, as the Luxray was forced to use its electricity against the hard ground. Lightning coursed through its muscles, and the ranger screamed. Nevertheless, it held firm until finally all of the electric energy was drained from the Luxray. It gave off one last feeble spatter of sparks before it collapsed against the ground. The Dark Emerald Ranger followed suit, not even its healing factor was enough to constantly heal it from the amount of electricity the Luxray could inflict.

415 approached the two. "You alive?" she asked.

In response, the Dark Emerald Ranger glowed, before the armor sank back and Max emerged from its shell. Breathing heavily, he reached out his hand, hoping that 415 would help him back to his feet. When she did not, he grunted and got up on his own.

"What was the point of that exercise?" asked 415.

"I bet it that it couldn't outlast me," Max explained. "Bad idea for it to take on a guy who can come back from having every bone in their body broken." He grinned and scratched his head. "You know what the weird thing is?"

"Enlighten me," said 415, in a tone that conveyed she could not care less.

"I remembered everything. Normally I drift in and out, but this time I saw the whole thing."

"Do not care. How does this pointless activity help me?"

"Well, I'd suggest taking care of it for today. The best way to bond with your Pokemon is to care for it. I know that's a stretch for you, but give it a shot."

"What does that mean?"

"Well…don't take this the wrong way, 415, but you aren't the warmest bulb in the oven. Matter of fact, you're pretty cold. Try showing some emotion."

"Try showing some common sense," 415 muttered. She withdrew her Poke Ball and recalled the injured Pokemon. "It'd change your whole outlook on life." She left.

"Man, I just don't get that girl," he said to the Dark Emerald. It agreed enthusiastically.

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Dreas Logan wished silently that he was anywhere else. Absolutely anywhere else. The craters of Cinnabar Island were looking particularly comfy to him as the two women before the Red Ranger decided his fate.

"I want this dress."

"No, this one is much more flattering for you, Ariel."

"Am I allowed any say in this whatsoever?" asked Logan loudly as he slumped in his chair.

"No you are not, sweety," said Mrs. Logan, her face all smiles.

Ariel wrapped herself around Logan. "Aw, honey…don't be sad. Soon we'll be married and on our honeymoon."

"I don't want to be married. I'm a PKM Ranger. It's my job to do dangerous things that can't let me be tied down to a family."

"Oh, but that's so exciting!" squealed Ariel. "I love your tight spandex."

"It's not spandex. It's high-performance endurance armor lightened for flight control during my Rescue Mode."

"Whatever it is, it's very nice, Dreas," said Mrs. Logan as she glanced through bridal magazines.

"Rangers aren't even supposed to be married!" he protested. "Look at 0. He was forced to get a divorce even before he became a ranger. Council won't-"

"-0 doesn't have your connections, dear," said Mrs. Logan, as she turned another page. "Your father had the Council see reason. You are a Logan, Dreas, and they don't want to lose our family's genetic condition. They granted you a special pass."

"Isn't that wonderful, dear?" asked Ariel as she squeezed tighter.

"Fantastic," he grumbled. "Mind if I go? I don't technically need to be here for this."

"Why not? You should help plan the wedding as well."

"Smart money's on the fact that my only requirement will be showing up in a tux." Logan rose and abandoned the room with gusto. The women merely smiled, sighed, and resumed their discussions about what fine china they would order for the wedding.

The Red Ranger gasped for breath in the corridor, he sincerely could not take another moment of this wedding nonsense. Walking down the pathway, he knew someone was behind him. "Karin," he muttered. He turned around to see the Pink Ranger quietly looking at him with a curious expression on her face.

"I'm really not liking this," he said. He resumed his walk and she quickened her step to fall in line with him. "Marriage isn't something I'm ready for. Especially with Ariel." He shuddered briefly. "That woman scares me in a way that no woman ever has before."

Karin slapped him upside the head. "Good point," he conceded. "I also occasionally fear you. But that's a different kind of fear. I respect you too much to quake in fear at your very presence. Ariel though…that's a whole different deal."

Karin smacked him again.

"True, but my mom doesn't listen to reason. Her desperate need for grandchildren worries me. I never thought my own mom would be trying to get me laid."

Karin made a move to smack him again, but lowered her hand before she connected. Logan looked stunned. "Everything still okay? I know you're restraining yourself, and I'm grateful. Think you can keep it up until all this blows over?"

She took a deep breath, then blinked twice. Her steps faltered briefly, but she resumed her usual stride.

"This'll all be over soon. I'll figure out some way out of this. I promise. Trust me, I don't want to marry Ariel. She's loud, annoying, and she's constantly drinking coffee." He smirked, then grabbed his crotch. "There's no way she gets her hands on this."

Karin responded by kicking him into the wall.

"That wasn't nice," he grunted. "Geez, Karin, does all our communication have to involve domestic abuse?"

In retaliation, she pinched his nose.

"I just don't get you sometimes," he muttered. She waited until he recovered his composition before she resumed her stroll alongside him. "If I didn't know any better…" He grinned, despite his own feelings the idea was ludicrous. "It's almost like you're in love with me." He chuckled, and didn't notice she had stopped moving until he was about ten feet away.

"Karin, you okay?" Her eyes were trained on the ground. "Look, it was a joke. A joke." He headed back towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "We're friends. Probably the only real friend the other has, in a weird way."

She looked up at him, and Logan saw in her eyes something he had never seen before. She shoved him against the wall, and it was at that moment that Logan believed that he would shortly breathe his last. "Karin, take it easy. Take it-"

Logan's loud, continuously operational mouth was immediately silenced. Not, as he thought, by death. Instead, Karin pressed her lips against his with such a fervor that Logan's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. A moment later though, Karin dug her nails into Logan's back, which informed him that he was not in fact having a highly realistic dream.

He grabbed her, she was so short, and lifted her so he wouldn't have to bend his neck forward so much. He felt Karin's tongue probing against his teeth, demanding access. Logan obliged, only because he was certain she could smash his teeth with nothing but her tongue, as she wrapped her legs around him.

Her nails raked against his back, giving new definition to the term 'backscratcher' as she left marks only normally applied to Logan by the finest of Orre brothels. But those loose women could only ignite a spark in comparison to the flare that had erupted inside the Red Ranger. He shifted his weight and slammed Karin against the wall as they battled for dominance.

Briefly, Logan managed to untangle his mouth from Karin's. "Holy… Holy crap, Karin," he panted, the sheer strength required to support Karin's weight was waning. "I never figured you could even-" He had to stop, because Karin didn't want to listen to him anymore and locked her lips with him again.

They continued, only stopping when they heard footsteps headed in their direction. Karin dislodged herself and used her position to kick Logan in the stomach. He was forced away from them and smashed into the opposing wall. She cracked her knuckles, the look in her eyes giving away her intent to kill whoever it was approaching them.

As it turned out, she immediately backed away when the Golden Ranger came into full view. "Karino, Logan," he said with curt nods. "Karino, you're wanted at the training area. 3 needs you to help her set up. Logan, you're with me." Karin gave him a dirty look, but reluctantly complied with the order.

0 looked down at Logan and offered his arm to help the Red Ranger up. Logan took it. "What's with you, Logan? You look like you just got hit by a sack of bricks."

"I…I…" Logan found himself, surprisingly, completely unable to speak.

0 sniffed at the air. "Hmm…something fruity. Like what Karino wears. You didn't-no, that's not possible. Did you rape her?"

Logan laughed. "Actually, I think that would be more likely than what just happened, if I wasn't just there to experience it," he explained and leaned on the wall rubbing his stomach. "She-Karin kissed me. Hard. 0, I think she might actually have human emotion."

"Huh. That's news to me." 0 started moving. "Come on, we need to go and prepare for our own stuff today."

"Did you just hear me, 0?" Logan asked. "Karin has feelings for me. That's the equivalent to winning the lottery. A big lottery, with like millions of people playing. That's how important it is. I could not care less about doing anything for ranger camp today. All I'll be doing is continuing where I left off with Karin."

He was about to head off where Karin went, but 0 held out his arm to block off the corridor. "Sorry, Logan. I feel for you, but we've got jobs to do. Let's go and get our work done, then you can go to Karino." Logan groaned, but nodded. "Good. Let's move." Logan shifted awkwardly around, mostly due to the pain currently being emitted from his groin, and followed the Golden Ranger.

"What do I do?" asked Logan.

"About what?"

"Karin. With this whole mess with my mom and Ariel, I don't know if she's going to keep calm. There's only so much patience she has for people trying to take me away from her."

"Your parents expect you to be married. If you were to marry Karin, I think they'd be happy. Do you want to marry Ariel, Logan?"

The Red Ranger violently shook his head. "No way. It's Karin or no one else."

"Then you should marry Karin. Or start dating her, anyway. Marriage might be a bit too quick. Don't want to scare her off, Logan."

Logan laughed. "Good point, 0." He smiled.

Then they ran into Ariel and Mrs. Logan. His smiled promptly dropped.

"Good news, Dreas," said Mrs. Logan, once again smiling broadly.

"Can't wait," Logan grumbled.

"We've set the date for the wedding," Ariel explained and once again grabbed him. "It's in five days!"

Logan cursed. "Ariel, look. You need to understand something. I'm a ranger, that means I don't have time for weddings and stuff. Ranger camp is happening, I don't have time for this junk."

"Watch your tone, young man," Mrs. Logan snapped, for a moment losing her cheerful complexion. "Ariel and I are being helped by the finest PKM agents available to make the wedding lovely, so make sure that you get your morpher fixed up with a nice tuxedo. I'm sure that Niwa gentleman can help you. 0, you'll be getting your invitation shortly, we just picked them out."

"Uh…thanks," 0 muttered. Ariel winked and walked past them with Mrs. Logan, chatting about what kind of cake they would be getting.

"This is getting annoying," Logan said.

"There's always desertion. I think at this point the Council would even encourage it. Why does your mother want this so badly?"

"My family is one of the special clans that were blessed by Legendary Pokemon," explained Logan. "That's why I've got these red eyes. The first-born son gets them, and it gets passed down that way. There used to be a lot of clans, but most of them died out. My mom wants to make sure my eyesight is passed on to the next generation. And, since I'm a ranger, there's always the chance that I'll die before I can produce offspring for her to spoil."

"That makes a little bit of sense. But still, would your mom really care if you married Karino instead?"

Logan nodded. "She loves Ariel for some reason, guess Ariel reminds her of her or something. Mother says that Karin's a bad influence on me."

"Is she right?"

He nodded. "Definite maybe."

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The door opened, but it wasn't Karin who walked through the door like Logan hoped. Instead it was his father, who shut the door and sat down on the bed next to the Red Ranger.

"Hey son," said Mr. Logan.

"Hey Dad," replied Logan.

"How's all the wedding business? Heard from your mother that you're on the chopping block soon. Nervous?"

"Kinda. Ariel makes my skin crawl."

Mr. Logan laughed. "Yeah, me too kid. Don't get me wrong, your mom's doing what's best for the family, and she loves you. I'm just not sure if she's doing what's best for you." Logan said nothing, but met his father's gaze, both sets of red eyes staring into one another. "And I've seen the way that you look at that partner of yours. She's pretty dangerous."

Logan smiled. "Dad, what made you decide that Mother was the woman for you?"

Mr. Logan laughed. "Well, I didn't do much of the deciding, Dreas. Your mother is a powerful, persuasive woman. Logan men love strong women, I know I do. You probably do too, but Ariel's…Ariel's strong even for my tastes. Yours too, probably. Am I right?"

"She's overbearing and annoying. I can't stand to be near her for a whole minute, let alone my whole life. Doesn't Mom get that?"

"I think she's just looking out for the family, Dreas. You and I shouldn't be special, but we are. Our eyes make us special, they let us have power that others don't. We lead lives of privilege. It's why I have sway with the Council. It's why you became the Red Ranger. You have qualifications, you have training, yes. But you had me too. Rangers were a rare commodity, before you had all the bells and whistles you do now. The Brines controlled much of the selection process. It was only thanks to my request, along with Bakaguru Niwa and the prior Golden Ranger, that you were recommended."

"You played politics for me."

Mr. Logan nodded. "I did indeed. Your mother protested, of course, but you wanted to be a ranger. I only wanted to give you the means to become your own man, Dreas. Now you need to decide your future. Not me. Not your mother. Not Ariel. You need to make that decision."

"Dad…" He started to say something, but Mr. Logan held up his hand, signaling silence.

"I'll let you know one thing, Dreas," he muttered as he glanced towards the door. "Karin might be a bad influence on you, but I have it on good authority your mother was a pretty bad influence on me." He grinned and whistled. "I wouldn't mind having her as a daughter-in-law, Dreas, so long as my daughter-in-law loves my son, and he loves her. My mother hated your mother, that's also a family tradition, Dreas."

Logan chuckled. "Think Mom will get mad if I don't show up to the wedding?"

"I believe she'll flip her lid if you do that."

The Logan men shared a laugh.

"I think I'll go have a talk with Mom. Then I'm going to go see Karin."

"I think that's very sensible. Good luck, Dreas."

Logan almost ran out of the room. But, before he could get to the door, the Golden Ranger opened it for him.

"Logan," he said curtly. "We have a situation. We need to get going."

"What?" Logan asked. "I've got somewhere-"

"-I can't say in front of your father. Bakaguru is waiting for us, come on."

"But I-"

"Dreas, go," ordered Mr. Logan. "Your job is to protect people. Your needs can wait. 0, take him and hurry."

"Yes sir," said 0. "Let's go."

The two rangers bolted down the hallway.

"What's going on?" Logan asked.

"Karino. Bakaguru just called, said she went off-grid," 0 replied. They ran past a squad of agents, most of which were lucky enough to get out of their way. The unlucky ones were sent flying. "He said that he lost her morpher's signal about two minutes ago in Pyrite Town. She's probably deactivated it herself."

"That's bad. Why?"

"Why do you think?" 0 asked. "That talk we had, don't tell me you aren't feeling a little psycho about this wedding crap. Karino's just going off the deep end, we need to get her back before her frustrations cause her to do something bad."

"Sounds like a plan," Logan muttered. "Is your pet headed out on this mission too?"

"Max is being kept on retainer, like last time. He'll be deployed if there's a real emergency."

"So you and me are teaming up huh?" Logan chuckled. "Never teamed up with another guy before. Be gentle with me."

"Shut up, Logan."

They reached Bakaguru's lab in moments. The engineer was already typing into a keyboard, displaying the information for the rangers on the screen.

"Agents 0, 1," he said in greeting. "Agent 5, Karin Karino, has gone off-grid. Council has ordered a recovery team to be immediately dispatched to retrieve her and her morpher and return safely to PKM headquarters. Any questions?"

"She in trouble because of it?" Logan asked.

Bakaguru shook his head. "Council initially showed concern due to her streaks in the past. However, she signed off for a day outside headquarters today. I convinced them to treat this as a security breach and a potential kidnapping. Due to the recent activity in Pyrite, they were forced to agree. You will both leave as soon as you are able to."

The screen uploaded an image, a map of Pyrite. "The Pink Morpher was last traced to an area of Pyrite near the Coliseum." A building on the map glowed red. "This area is reported as a storage facility, storing unknown materials."

"A front for Snagem?" 0 asked.

"Possibly. For now we are certain that that's her last confirmed location. I will be in constant contact with you, and AX6 will be prepared for deployment if necessary." Bakaguru's fingertips whirled and clacked against the keyboard. Out of the ground a hatch opened and two motorcycles emerged. "I figured it would be faster to build you transport in here. Get going." Both rangers nodded and fastened helmets onto themselves as they stepped onto the bikes. Logan revved the engine, it roared like a monster.

"Dreas, wait for me!" shouted a voice, also like a monster, but with a higher pitch and a whiny tone. "We need to talk about something!"

Logan growled savagely. He shifted his weight and stared through the visor at his mother and Ariel. "What do you need? I'm on the clock, ladies."

"It's the seating, Dreas," said Mrs. Logan. "We aren't sure where to place your work friends. Is there any way we could…how should I put this…leave them out?"

"That way, the seating will be perfect!" exclaimed Ariel.

"No can do," replied Logan and returned to revving his engine. "Not getting married. Not yet anyways."

"N-Not married?" Logan grinned, he had never seen his mother look so flabbergasted before. "But our heritage, our family. We need to continue it."

"Yeah, we probably will. But definitely not with her." His head nodded as he glanced towards Ariel. "Ariel, you're sexy, ditzy, and I'm sure you'll make some masochist somewhere very happy. But you annoy me, and we're not going to work out. To be honest, the only reason I dated you in high school was because you had a fantastic rack-" He looked over her again and nodded his head "-which you still have, and I had the attention span of a Psyduck. But we're adults now. Kinda. I still dress up like it's Halloween and fight bad guys."

He revved the engine and looked towards 0, who nodded his head encouragingly. "So, if you don't mind Mom, I really need to go save someone right now. Somebody much more important than Ariel's seating chart."

"Let me guess: the girl you work with," snapped Mrs. Logan. "Oh, I know about her. How she's psycho, how she's demented, how she can't even speak a word or make a noise. She's not good, Dreas. Not good at all for you. Ariel's from a good family, she'll be a good mother."

"Maybe. But I won't love her." Logan turned to 0. "Let's move. Karin's in trouble."

"You got it." 0 revved his engine and they tore off. Bakaguru opened a portion of the wall, revealing the Orre desert outside, and Mrs. Logan and Ariel vanished from Logan's mind.

"0, how long until we reach Pyrite on these things?" Logan asked into the helmet's communicator.

"Estimated time will is ten minutes," 0 replied. "If we push the engines we can make it in eight."

"Push the engines," Logan ordered.

Eight minutes later, they arrived at the scene. Both men dismounted and activated their com-links. Both used their morphers to change their civilian clothes into their PKM uniforms, complete with jackets and goggles. Both headed directly towards the storage facility and broke down the door with twin neat, even, powerful kicks.

"Lucy, I'm home!" bellowed Logan into the darkness.

"Subtle," said 0. "See anything?"

Logan narrowed his eyes. "Lot of rows," he muttered. "Nothing moving. No shifting air particles. We can go in."

"Okay." They advanced. Logan led, 0 kept close. After twenty minutes they found nothing. "003, can't confirm anything's in here. 1 says nothing's moving."

"Blueprints show that there's something there. Move twenty feet to the north. There's a wall where there shouldn't be one." 0 and Logan checked the wall.

"He's right," said the Red Ranger. "This part of the wall is built differently. Think you can break through it?"

"I can try." 0's body rippled with electricity and, with a loud grunt, smashed a punch into the wall. It cracked easily and with a few more well-placed hits the false wall broke apart, leaving a man-sized hole leading to a flight of stairs.

"Still nothing moving," said Logan. "I see a security camera though. It's not facing us now."

"Where?"

"Above us, to the left."

"Got it." 0 pressed his hand against the wall, sending electricity shooting through the material and into the camera. It short-circuited and fell to the ground, sending sparks everywhere. "Any more of them?"

"Not that I can see. Let's move, they know we're here now."

"Hang on. 1, you need to relax."

"I am calm."

"Not the same. You're acting serious. Don't do it, it's just not you."

"They took Karin. I will kill them if she's hurt."

"No, you won't. Pop a joke or something, leave the grim stuff to me. Don't let this stuff consume you. Don't be emo."

Logan snickered. "You just crack a joke, 0?"

"That I did. Now you try one."

"Okay, let's see…" Logan cleared his throat and smiled broadly. "Attention all bad guys! Prepare to be hurt in ways they haven't invented words for yet!" He turned to 0. "How was that?"

"Needs work. Now that the bad guys know we're here, we should probably do something." Logan nodded in agreement. They ran down the stairs, whereupon they ran into the bad guys. Roughly twenty people took off the safeties on their rifles.

"Boss was right," said the self-appointed leader of the group. "More came."

"We can see that, Eugene," said another. The room at the end of the stairs was dimly lit, mostly by the laser pointers on the rifles but also by the flickering light bulbs attached to the ceiling. "Which ones are you two?"

Logan shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure, that's a good question. Is this not the Pyrite bathhouse? My boyfriend and I could have sworn we heard man-groans in here."

"What'd you say?" sneered the one named Eugene, who put his gun uncomfortably close to Logan's nostrils.

"I was just commenting on how I thought I heard man-groans. Sounded like fun, so me and my larger, beefier half accidentally broke in. Is there not a sweaty man-orgy going on here? Do we have the wrong address?"

"I will kill you!"

"Eugene, calm down!" shouted one of the men. "He's just trying to piss you off."

"But he said-"

"I said he's just trying to piss you off! Lay off your ego for a minute and think straight!"

"Been there, my friend," Logan murmured sympathetically. "Doesn't work. One day you're married and unhappy, and the next you're feasting on sausage like you're at a hot dog eating contest and loving every minute of it." He slapped 0's butt, who jumped at the unexpected contact.

"Watch it!" 0 barked.

"He's still a little bit in the closest," whimpered Logan. "This is actually the most people he's out to. You need to come out and not be afraid, Francis."

"I'm going to tell you to shut up one more time," 0 growled. "After that, I will beat you to within an inch of your pathetic life."

"I love it when you're rough, Francis. Just be gentle, last time I couldn't sit down for a week." He turned to Eugene, and sighed. "Seriously, it's like I'm his own personal pincushion." Eugene lowered his weapon, clearly disgusted by the disturbing turn the conversation had taken.

"What should we do with them?" he asked the group at large.

"Can there be torture?" Logan wondered hopefully. "This could be fun, Francis."

"Shut up!" 0 snarled.

"Hey, hey, hey," said one of the henchmen with a chuckle. "If the boys want torture we can give them torture. Why deny a dead man's last wish?"

"Ah, a man after my own heart," Logan sighed, fluttering his eyelids. "Wait, did you say 'dead man'?" He gulped.

"Oh yeah, pansy. See, we can't exactly have kids like you breaking into Snagem locales. Bad for business."

"But I'm getting married next week! There's going to be a reception, vows. I've even picked out a perfect dress for Francis here."

"I will murder you."

"Good thing it's time for a punch line now."

"Wait. What?" Eugene asked.

0, taking advantage of the fact that most of the Snagem grunts had lowered their weapons, lowered himself and shot lightning out of his hands. The electricity surged through the room, striking everybody that was touching the floor. Logan jumped, just in time to dodge, and was spared.

Everyone else fell to the ground before a single shot could be fired.

"Well," said Logan, as he dusted off his hands, "that was easy, huh?"

"You pulled that off a little too well," 0 retorted.

"So did you." He tapped his earpiece. "003, 0 and I just finished off the first wave of grunts. We're moving on."

"Roger," said Bakaguru.

Both moved through the room to disarm the grunts. As they did, Eugene held onto the one Logan tried to wrangle from him. "You…bastard…"

"Yeah, but look on the bright side: you get to live. I'd have killed you for messing with my girl."

"Your…girl?" Eugene croaked. "You're not really-"

"Nope, sorry. Hope I wasn't your type." Logan grabbed Eugene's shirt and lifted him up. "Now where's the girl? Answer or you get another jolt from my shock buddy here."

"In the back… Boss has her."

"Thanks." Logan smiled cheerfully. "You can shock him again now, partner."

0 obliged and the two moved on. The door to the back was made of iron, no getting through even with 0's electric juice.

"How do we get in there?" he asked.

Logan shrugged. "Good question. I guess that's why we've got these big fancy morphers, huh?"

"Let's go."

Both raised their morphers.

_ "Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power!"_

_ "PKM Spirit, Activate!"_

In moments, two armored rangers stood ready to break down the iron door. Logan readied the Claw Cannon while 0 brought out the Lightning Laser.

"Does this seem like overkill to you?" Logan asked, as he powered up the weapon.

"Nope."

The blasts of energy smashed the door down, leaving a cloud of dust hanging in the air. The Red Ranger and Golden Ranger stepped through the hole, revealing the Snagem boss and Karin, with the Pink Ranger strapped down to a chair.

"Lucy…" Logan rubbed his visor's brow with a sigh. "Lucy, you got some 'splaining to do."

0 pointed the gun at the Snagem boss. "Back away from her now," he ordered, "or we'll beat you up like the last time."

"Did you gain weight from the last time we saw you?" Logan asked. "I could have sworn you've beefed up a bit. Too many potato chips?"

"Shut up!" roared the Snagem boss, tightening his grip on the massive black stone he held. "I swear to you I will kill you, Red boy. I swear it!" He grabbed Karin's throat, caressing her pale skin with his fingers. "But I'll settle for the mute. She doesn't complain, or make snide comments. She's the perfect woman."

"Yeah, too bad she's mine chucky. Back away and we forget you were ever here. Understand me?"

The Snagem boss didn't budge. "I'm sorry, can't hear you. Maybe your girlfriend can enlighten me." He raised his hands up to Karin's mouth, shifting the jaw and moving her mouth. "Come on, girlie. Think you can talk for me?"

It was at this point that Karin bit the Snagem boss. Hard. Blood erupted from her mouth and the boss howled in agony. Logan rushed forward, smashing into the boss and driving him away.

0 and Logan, exercising restraint, got out a pair of flexi-cuffs and cuffed the fat idiot. "003, we've got a squad of Snagems down here. Might want to send in a cleanup crew. That or the cops. Your pick."

"I'm sending local law enforcement now. Make yourself scarce in five minutes."

Logan turned towards Karin. "Come on, honey. Let's get you home."

In response, Karin spit out two fingers. Blood trickled down her chin.

"Uh, Karin… You've got a little… You know what, it's fine. We'll get you cleaned up when we get back to base."

She slapped his helmet as they headed up the stairs.

"Yeah, well, it takes about eight minutes to get here from the base. The motorcycle they gave me wouldn't go any faster."

She slapped him again.

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Mrs. Logan was fuming by the time the Red Ranger returned.

Rather than demorph, as 0 did, Logan dramatically rode into the lab with a roaring engine in full combat armor. Karin clung tightly to him, and only dislodged herself when he dismounted from his machine to follow him in the direction of his mother.

"Dreas, put away the costume," Mrs. Logan ordered. "We need to talk about Ariel. She's very upset."

Logan tilted his helmet. "Nope, don't think so," he said through the mechanized synthesizer. "Put her on the first plane back to Kanto. You too. I don't want you or Dad around here anymore. What I do is way too dangerous, and I care about you guys. No matter how crazy you try to drive me."

"But the wedding-"

"Forget about the wedding," he said. "I just turned twenty-five, I've got a whole year to get married. Believe me, you'll get grandchildren someday. You'll get your red-eye baby and a bunch of other rugrats to spoil. But I get to live my life. And I get to live it with Karin." He drew her close, and wrapped his arm around her waist. She reciprocated.

"B-But she's…she's a mute! She can't even talk! What makes you think she'll be a good wife, a good mother?"

Logan shrugged. Out of the corner of the room, someone laughed. They turned to see Mr. Logan standing next to Bakaguru, grinning ear to ear.

"Well said, Dreas," he murmured, clapping his hands. "It's almost the same thing I said to your grandmother years ago. Remember, honey?"

"W-Well, yes, b-but-"

"And history has a way of repeating itself. My old man said that one too." He walked up to Karin and smiled underneath his round glasses. "I'm Dreas' father, Karin. I don't think we've been introduced. Mind looking after my son? I know he's annoying and loud, but I hope that you can balance that out."

Karin's zombie-like attitude did not vanish, but it did fade as her eyes warmed. Slowly, she wobbled her chin up and down in a slight nod in agreement.

"That's all the communication I need. Honey, we're going home."

"B-But he can't-"

"We'll talk about it on the plane ride home. Dreas, we'll see you at Christmas. Bring your girlfriend too, she should see your hometown." He turned to Bakaguru. "Think you can have an agent or two send up our bags for the flight home?"

"I will see what we can do, friend. Have a safe trip home."

"Roger." He carried his wife away, in spite of her protests, and soon Logan was the only member of his family in the room.

"Well, I think that went very well." Logan decided to demorph, so half his sentence came out the synthesizer while the ending was his normal voice. "Honey, what do you say we break out that bed and not leave the room for several days?" he asked, turning a hopeful head to Karin.

The Pink Ranger's face changed from pale to bright red, and she smashed Logan over the head for his suggestion. However, in contrast to her display of violence, she grabbed him by the arm and all but dragged him out of the room.

It would be an understatement to suggest that Logan's cheering as he dashed through the halls with her was anything but incredibly loud, noisy, and full of egotistical pride. About halfway there, he scooped up Karin and carried her the rest of the way, finding her dragging pace too slow for his tastes.

They did not leave the room for thirty-eight hours. Bets began circulating around the headquarters as to how long Logan and Karin would continue their marathon of rampart passion unleashed from years of sexual tension and Logan's innuendo.

0 won the bet, collected several hundred dollars, and spent it on a lovely dinner with his ex-wife and daughter.


	25. Morph 25

**Morph Twenty-Five: Tomorrow's Rangers, Part I**

The Toby family huddled underneath a small umbrella near the tracks waiting for their train. May Toby kept a tight grip on her daughter, ensuring the little girl didn't go exploring too far away, especially near the tracks. Keean Toby held his wife's hand with one hand, the other he shifted to consult his watch. The train was five minutes late, he thought, and continued to watch his surroundings through his aviator glasses.

"Where's the train?" asked Sarah Toby. She shifted her head this way and that, looking for the train on the north tracks, the south tracks, and in the sky. "Isn't it supposed to be here, Daddy?"

"Yeah," replied Keean Toby. "I guess it's running a little late Don't worry, it'll be here before you know it, kiddo." He patted her head and she smiled. In the faint distance, they heard the small issue of a whistle in the stormy weather. "There. What'd I tell you?"

Less than two minutes later the locomotive pulled into the station, shooting steam all over the family and the other passengers waiting nearby. Keean Toby coughed, attempting to blow the smog away from his family. The train whistled one last time before it hissed and the engine ground to a halt in front of the platform. The conductor leapt off the black machine and consulted his pocket watch.

"All aboard!" he called. "Platform 1- Pyrite Town to Kanto Central Station."

"That's us," said Keean Toby as he gathered what little luggage his family had and followed his wife and daughter on board. They waved their tickets at the conductor, who allowed them in after counting them. Their tickets were for a private compartment in the first class, which they located after some minor difficulties in navigation through the train, the first attempt of finding the car ended with them in the storage car in the back. Thanks to May, they managed to find the little private room. Keean Toby grabbed their bags and tossed them under the seats. Sarah jumped onto one side of the train and looked outside the window.

"It's so pretty in here!" said Sarah excitedly. May smiled and sat down with her daughter.

Keean Toby did not join them. "I'm going to…go catch some air. I'll be right back." May nodded and Keean Toby shut the compartment door behind him. The train had started to move, despite this he moved casually through the rocking train towards the back car. He needed to be alone, if only for a moment. At the back of the train, surrounded by the luggage of his fellow passengers, the Golden Ranger sank to the ground. He shuddered, his hands clenched in fists.

"…0?" whispered a voice in his ear.

0 coughed, trying to suppress his emotions. "What's up, Pi?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just wanted to know if you were alright."

The Golden Ranger sat in silence for some time, not sure how to answer. "Our whole world ended today, Pi," he said finally, feeling his face grow hot. "My family's safety, our friends…nothing's ever going to be the same again."

"0, you can't blame yourself for what happened. He knew the risks going into the fight. He chose to fight anyway. He died a hero's death."

"He was a hero, he didn't deserve to die," 0 choked, there was a lump in his throat and his nose felt stuffy. "And they…" He couldn't even finish the sentence, he didn't want it to be true. He just wanted his friends and family back together and for no one to be dead… "This is all my fault."

"You wanted to keep everyone together. He understood that."

"But I didn't do that, did I?" he asked harshly. He opened his mouth to continue, but stopped just short of shouting at the Pikachu. "I'm sorry, Pi. I know you're just looking out for me."

"I'm not angry. You're in mourning. So is everyone."

"I need to be strong for Sarah and May," he muttered. "They need me now, more than ever before."

"Just remember, whatever you are now, 0, you are her husband and Sarah's father. They're the last link to your humanity. Don't lose that."

0 nodded and took a deep breath. "Never again," he vowed.

His morpher began to glow, the Golden Ranger lifted it up to his face. "A message…?" he asked.

"I thought Bakaguru disabled outside communications from PKM," said Pi.

"He did." The holographic image on the watch displayed a new message had been sent to him. "He just left communications open for me to send to the others…"

"What should we do? PKM could be tracing us…"

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**_…Twenty-Four Hours Ago…_**

"Ready, 415?" asked Bakaguru.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "As I will ever be."

"She'll be great," Max said. "She's been getting better with Luxray. If we're lucky, she should be good to go."

"Could we not simply poison the other applicants?" suggested 415. "That way, this arbitrary selection process will be over and done with within the day."

"I don't think you quite understand why we're doing this through a ranger camp." Bakaguru paused to clean his glasses. "It's so the best applicants can be chosen in an impartial series of tests."

"I could not care less. I worked the hardest, and 0 picked me as his successor."

"The former Golden Ranger selected the current 0 as his replacement."

"I was his daughter. He loved me."

"You were his adopted daughter. He took you in, nothing more. The current 0 and his team will select their new team members by seeing who will be the most compatible and useful with the ranger technology. There has only ever been one person bonded to the ranger system that wasn't compatible."

"Yeah," muttered a voice behind Bakaguru. "Me." Serena rubbed her eyes and yawned loudly. "Mind not talking about me behind my back, Bakaguru?"

"My apologies, Serena. Don't you have to get to 0 for ranger camp preparations?"

"He said he already took care of everything, so I decided to come down here."

"Good. Today you're doing the friendship tests right?"

"Yeah. 415, how are you and Luxray working together?"

"Fine."

"She's doing great," said Max. "Luxray's listening to her when she talks to it, and she's learning to work with it instead of order it around." In an extremely unintelligent move, Max put his arm around her and gave her a big hug.

415 responded by putting Max in a headlock and breaking his neck. Max fell to the floor. Bakaguru and Serena gasped, but 415 merely sighed as the Dark Emerald began to glow, and a crunching noise issued while Max's neck reattached and he climbed back up to his feet.

"If only he would stay dead," 415 wished.

"Yeah, she figured out I don't die in our third lesson. Doesn't change the fact that it hurts a lot."

"I suppose I will have to settle for that."

"Yep. She's too weak to break the Dark Emerald, so I-"

415 grabbed his neck and squeezed. "Do not tempt me, idiot."

"Okay! Okay! It hurts!" he growled. "Geez, why can't you be nice to me? I am trying to help you accomplish your dream, you know." He rubbed his neck and sighed. "Bakaguru, any news on what PKM's doing with my mom and dad?"

"Norman and Caroline Birch?" Bakaguru wondered, and typed into his computer for a few moments. "They're on a cruise in the Orange Islands. Should keep them out of the public eye for about a year while we work on hiding the rest of your family."

"Cool. Uh, got any idea of when the ranger camp stuff is going down? I heard the final testing was happening today."

"The final testing will take place in two hours. The final three applicants will be given the ranger systems based on their skill level. The top applicant will be given the Blue Ranger system, the next will receive the new White Ranger system, and the last shall be given the Black Ranger system. The Council has actually given clearance for a rather extravagant party to be held in honor of the new rangers."

"That doesn't sound like them," said Serena.

"The announcement came directly from Alexander Charon."

"Who's that?" asked Max.

"Alexander Charon, primary director of the Council," muttered Serena as she rolled her eyes. "His family is another of the founding members of PKM, like mine and Logan's. He's really, really creepy."

"Charon has long attempted to put Council agenda on my PKM Ranger program," explained Bakaguru. "He has failed at every turn thanks to the selective process remaining in my hands. With the ranger camp, however, I have been forced to allow everyone willing and able to volunteer."

"So we don't have a clue who we're getting in bed with," finished Serena.

"To put it in layman's terms, yes, that's right." Bakaguru pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. "So, 415, I suggest you do a good job today with Luxray. Your dreams depend on it."

415 growled. "I am aware." She walked off and Max followed.

"Serena, there is something I've been meaning to ask you," said Bakaguru.

"What's up?" she asked.

"How are you handling the ranger business?"

Serena lowered her face. "It's hard, but at least I'm still with 0. I can handle it as long as we stay together."

Bakaguru sighed. "Serena, there's something I need to talk to you about."

She looked up. "What?"

Bakaguru hesitated. "There is…something you need to know. I have…" He shook his head, he couldn't tell her. Not yet. "You should be at the ranger camp setting up. It's my understanding there will be spectators at today's event." He returned to his computer, his heart heavy. "Go. I will be on my way soon enough."

"You sure, Bakaguru?" Serena asked. "You seem… I don't know. Kinda down. Is something wrong?"

He shook his head. "Of course not, Serena." He squeezed her shoulder and smiled. "Run along, I'll come once I finish my testing for the Ailed Morphers."

She nodded and left. Bakaguru waited again until he was certain he was alone before he brought out the three new morphers. Each one was a perfect little watch. He placed each one in a small box and sealed them away before tucking them into his lab coat.

"Alright, Charon," he muttered. "Let's see what strength you can muster."

He shut down all the computers and walked out of the lab.

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"Good evening, ladies and men!" bellowed Logan. "Welcome to the final portion of ranger camp: the Friendship Test! Can I get a hallelujah?"

"Hallelujah!" shouted the surrounding crowd.

"That's what I'm talking about!" roared the Red Ranger, to the applause of all. "Today three among you join the prestigious ranks of us, the PKM Rangers! Three sexy, legally consenting individuals, who will join Karin and I in an after-party celebration-" Logan paused, not because he wanted to, but because Karin grabbed his tongue and tossed the microphone over toward the Golden Ranger.

"That was completely uncalled for," Logan complained, while Karin gave him a look of intense pleasure as she applied pressure to his neck. "This is paining me. Please stop." She did not.

"Moving on," growled 0. "Agents step forward with your Pokemon."

The six candidates stepped up to the platform with their Pokemon. Luxray and 415 stood quietly in the middle of the line, both with a reserved calmness. The others were a mixture of nervousness, cockiness, and excitement. The Golden Ranger turned to her and nodded. She ignored him.

"You have been found suitable for field combat and ranger technology," 0 announced. "But part of being a Ranger Agent means being compatible with the current generation of the Ranger System. This requires an agent acting as an operator and a Pokemon acting as the support intelligence and basis for the Ranger System. The level of teamwork between ranger and ranger spirit measures the potential strength of the Ranger System. Utilizing the Friendship Checker, we will measure the compatibility of the selected six agents with their Pokemon. The top three will advance into the ranks of PKM Ranger Agents Blue, White, and Black."

Serena moved towards a platform set up on the stage and lowered her head to the microphone. "Will Agent 3228, Derek Rex, please step up here with his Empoleon?" One of the cadets, a buzz-cut recruit with a serious expression, nodded and stepped up to the platform with his penguin Pokemon. After a few seconds the machine finished recording and Serena wrote down the number. "Thank you," she said. "Please step down. Will Agent 5833, Sean Aarons, please step up here with his Charizard?"

This continued with the other three agents, until finally Serena said, "Will Agent 415, name classified, please step up here with her Luxray?" 415 took a deep breath before she and Luxray stepped onto the platform. 0 nodded encouragingly and Max cheered from the sidelines. She shot him a glance that could freeze a volcano.

A few seconds later, it was done and she stepped down. Serena handed the results to 0, who didn't look at the paper and raised the microphone to his mouth. "Here to deliver the results is the operating director of the PKM Ranger Agents, Agent 003 Bakaguru Niwa." The crowd applauded as Bakaguru made his way to the stage, took the sheet from 0, and grabbed the microphone.

"Thank you, Agent 0," he said before turning to the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen I have the results of whom will be joining the PKM Ranger Agents today. When we first began ranger camp there were over a hundred applicants, which we have narrowed down to the six agents you see before you. Half of these people did not make the cut. I would like to personally apologize to those who will not be joining our team today, as I am sure I would like to have worked with each of them."

He paused and took a deep breath before looking down the list. "The new operator for the Ranger Agent Blue System will be Special Agent 45, Daniel Day. Congratulations on your promotion, Agent 2." The audience applauded as Day, a large man with a Hariyama, stepped forward to receive a special jacket similar to the ones worn by the other Ranger Agents with his number and color on it.

"Thank you," he said with a smile and stood off to the side with Logan, Karin, 0, and Serena.

"The new operator for the Ranger Agent White System will be Agent 776, Ashley Yorfino." A woman slightly younger than 0 stepped forward, giggling with pride, with a Togetic floating next to her. Serena, after much hesitation, presented Yorfino with her old jacket. "Congratulations on your promotion, Agent 3."

"Take care of it," Serena said.

The new White Ranger nodded. "I will," she promised, and stepped next to Day.

Bakaguru lowered the list and tucked it into his pocket. "The final new operator, who will assume control of the Ranger Agent Black System, will be Agent 415. Congratulations on your promotion, Agent 4." He turned to 415 and handed her the ranger jacket, his face beaming with pride.

415 didn't reach for it. "I did it?" she asked.

He nodded and showed her the results. "You worked the hardest for this. You've earned it." She put on the jacket and stepped to the side with Luxray, who grinned evilly at the crowd. Bakaguru turned towards the crowd. "Please join me in welcoming the three new PKM Ranger Agents, joining our three other agents in protecting the-"

It was at the point where Logan grabbed the mic and, smiling, shouted, "Everybody, party at the cafeteria! I'm doing the first keg stand!" This was received by unanimous applause and a slap to the head from Karin.

Bakaguru clear his throat. "Yes, well, as Ranger Red said, a celebration will be held shortly. During the party we will be bonding the morphers to the Ranger Agents. See you there."

Bakaguru and 0 waited until the arena filed out before they headed back to the lab.

"Come, Gold," he muttered. "We need to begin your sequencing early." 0 nodded.

"How long is it going to take?" he asked.

Bakaguru shrugged. "I decreased the necessary time. Shouldn't take more than twelve hours now. During that time you'll be wearing a replacement morpher." He opened one of the drawers on his lab table and pulled out the fake one. "Bring your morpher over here." 0 raised his wrist as Bakaguru pulled out some sort of strange, spherical machine. He opened the device and placed 0's wrist inside before shutting it again.

"Is this going to hurt Pi?" 0 asked.

Bakaguru shook his head. "No. The ranger spirit will be placed into hibernation while the morpher reconfigures with the Ailed Morpher chip. Pi will not be injured when it is transported to the new system."

"It's okay," said Pi. "Bakaguru will take good care of me."

"Fine. See you on the other side, Pi."

The machine detached the Golden Morpher from his wrist in one quick motion. Once the process was finished 0 removed his hand from the device and felt his wrist.

"Man, this feels really weird. I even have a tan line," he muttered.

"You'll live," said Bakaguru as he attached the fake morpher to 0's hand. "This will generate a fake version of your suit in case of emergencies. It cannot operate the Synchronization Drive or utilize any of your other weapons. Keep that in mind if you decide to play hero." 0 nodded. "How are you doing on serum?"

"I'm scheduled for my next dose tonight. I'll make sure I take it on time."

"Good. There is one more thing, 0. It seems that Alexander Charon intends on interrogating the Snagem commander we imprisoned."

"I thought they were all in the regular jails now."

"Most of them. The Snagem leader is bonded to an abnormal Dark Onyx, so he's a special case. We should hopefully be able to get something useful out of him."

"Wait," said 0. "Why aren't we interrogating him? Why's Charon doing it?"

"Prior to his father's death, Alexander Charon was the lead interrogator for the special operations division of PKM. He is well-versed in all manner of torture techniques. He is also a sick, sick little man."

"We're all sick," whispered a voice dramatically behind 0. Logan grinned and stepped next to the Golden Ranger. "Better statement would be that the guy just ain't right in the head, Bakaguru. You haven't met him, Golden Boy. He likes to play hardball. He's the reason we've had to come up with this mutiny we're doing today."

"How do you-"

"Please, 0. You give me too little credit. You think Bakaguru could come up with this kind of huge plan all by himself?"

"I did come up with it all by myself, Logan," said Bakaguru with an annoyed look on his face.

"That's completely beside the point. You needed someone to bounce ideas off of."

"There were no ideas, there was just my basic plan."

"Well…you needed someone to eat your food with you."

"Fine. You contributed to that."

"Hang on," 0 said. "Who else is in on this?"

"Karin and I know, our morphers are already being upgraded. Birch's parents have been whisked away so they can't be touched. Everything's in place. All you need to do is inform your family to be ready and we'll be good to go. Agents Day and Yorfino, unfortunately, will not be receiving their new morphers. When we go underground, we'll be taking all of the Ranger Systems with us."

"Ah…yes…" Bakaguru coughed. "It seems I have forgotten something. Serena will have to be told, she still has no idea what we're doing. I will tell her of the plan later tonight, at the party."

"Why didn't you tell her already?" 0 asked.

Bakaguru sighed. "I just didn't want to complicate things for her. She is trying to deal with her demotion as best she can, but I can tell she's suffering." 0 nodded. "Gold, I'm not just doing this for you. This whole mutiny benefits your family, true, but Serena needs this just as much as you do. She wasn't supposed to be a ranger, but that accident has become her identity. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, Bakaguru, she's a big part of our family. I don't want to leave her behind when we're gone."

"Good. Get going, I believe that your presence will be required at the party today."

0 grinned. "Gotcha. I already promised May a dance." He took off.

"Young love," muttered Bakaguru. "Young, stupid love. Is there any other kind?"

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The gentleman before the Snagem boss undid his tie.

His hair was immaculate, despite a slightly-receding hairline. Coarse black hair flowed from his scalp to his shoulders. He adjusted the narrow lenses of his glasses and coldly stared down at the subdued Dark Gem freak.

"You," he hissed, as he rolled up his sleeves, "have been a very bad boy."

The Snagem leader did not respond, prompting Alexander Charon to reach for a nearby can of Mace. He grinned. "Come on, little freak. Tell me what I want to know and I promise we won't hurt you. I swear on my mother's life."

"Heh," growled the boss. "Something like you has a mother. That's funny, skinny."

Charon's brow furrowed. "My mother would not appreciate your comment, boy," he hissed and blasted the boss' face full of Mace. The Dark Gem screamed in agony as his face became plastered with the painful, stingy liquid. "Want to try again?" he asked, his voice raised to drown out the shrieks.

"G-Go to h-hell," he stuttered before spitting in Charon's face. The director of the Council paused, just long enough to retrieve a handkerchief and wipe his cheek, before spraying the rest of the can into the Dark Gem's eyes. He shrieked as Charon tossed away the can and glanced lovingly at the torture table nearby.

"Ah. You know, I have so many little toys to play with, you little freak…" He walked over to the table and picked up a blowtorch. "For instance, I could incinerate your hand, finger by finger, until the last three are gone. Karino really did a number on you, huh?" He placed the torch back down and picked up some sort of strange syringe. "Or some liquid nitrogen to pump through your veins. I'll bet that'll get you to start talking…if you live through it, that is." But at last he found what he wanted: the flickering jumper cables plugged right into an electrical generator. "Here we go, I think these will do perfectly."

He walked back to the Snagem leader and, as politely as possible, attached the ends of the jumper cables to both of his captive's hands. Charon reached for the electric generator. "Is there anything, anything at all, you wish to tell me before the real interrogation begins?" he asked hopefully, flashing a smile. But nothing he said made a difference to his prisoner and he let out a loud sigh. "Maybe I should let 1 interrogate you, a few hours with him and your head would explode. But no, I'm a kind man. I'll just inflict physical torture on you." He hit the switch and watched the pretty sparks that shot from the Snagem boy's mouth for a while After he'd had enough, he flipped the switch and cackled while his prisoner gasped for breath.

"Want more?" asked Charon, all smiles. "I'm sure I can tap into the main power grid of you'd like some mo-" He paused, as the little prisoner began gasping for air, trying to say something. "What's that?" he asked and slapped the man. "Speak up, I can't hear you!"

"S-Said that if y-you k-k-kill me…can't t-tell," he gasped. Charon relished the sound as his captive struggled to breathe with every instant that dragged on.

Charon tapped his lips with his forefinger. "Excellent point," he murmured. "But if you don't talk, then I just end up having all the fun at your expense. I want this to be an equal trade, kiddo." He glanced at the desk nearby and picked up a file. "Let's see, what does my agency know about you, Mr. Prisoner?" He flipped open the first page.

"Your name is Arnold Walker, but I was told you prefer the codename Goza. Now, that's a very stupid name, isn't it? Much dumber than that poor thing your mother gave you." He chuckled and Goza's face just reddened up like a fresh strawberry.

"Better…shut up… Kill you," he mumbled.

"I don't think you're in a position to make such a rash, rude statement," said Charon, who was more than willing to touch his finger gingerly to the electrical knob that controlled the circuit flow between the machine and Goza's body. "Now I'll ask you one more time: what are you doing with that Dark Gem of yours? I'm afraid I just need to know. We need to get rid of you vermin while you're soft and weak. If we wait longer, you'll just get bigger and make even more of a mess."

"Then-" The man's head sagged "-what's with Jolly Green? Saw one of us with your team."

"Oh him…he's being taken care of right now. Once you give me the information I need, you'll join him in being executed. You Dark Gem Rangers are simply too unstable for me…not like ours are any better, but ours listen to me and me alone. Yours don't. See the difference?" He flipped the switch for the tiniest second, but it was one of the most painful seconds Goza had ever endured.

"Did that change anything?" Charon asked.

"N-Not a thing," whispered Goza between clenched teeth. "Want to know what the funny part is?"

"Go ahead, I love a good joke."

"In a few hours, you'll all be dead. Every last one of you. So go ahead, put me through this. I can take it. My Dark Gem won't let me die like a dog here." He lifted up his hand and tried to wave the bloody stumps where two of his fingers used to be. "That pink one? She's the first one to die. She took my fingers, I'll take off her neck!"

"Yes, I must apologize for that," murmured Chaon, almost as if he was sincere. "You see, Ranger Pink has never quite been a person of…shall we say mental stability. She's right on par with you Dark Gems, I think. Her background is complicated, to say the least. As her master, I should tell you that your injury could have been much worse. You should have just let her go, but now you've lost two fingers and it's nobody's fault but your own. If anything, blame your Dark Gem friends. Why, did you know that the Dark Emerald Ranger can regenerate anything? If we cut off his head, I'm sure he'd just reattach it somehow! He must be so much stronger, so much better than you, to have your friends leave you with something so weak, so useless…"

"Stop talking to me!" Goza shrieked, and slammed his fists into the sides of the chair. "I don't want to hear any more! Nothing! Zip! Nada! Got it, you sick, twisted freak?" His breaths came in gasps, his face was steaming red. Only the restraints on the chair prevented him from rising up and ripping off Charon's own head. Even then, Goza was sure he'd just keep talking, no matter what.

"I'm the sick twisted freak? I'm sorry, you must be confusing me with someone else, you poor diluted man." As he opened his mouth to continue, he was forced to pause when somebody knocked at the door.

"Now who could that be?" Charon wondered aloud as he walked towards the door. "I believe I asked for specific instructions to be left alone with the prisoner!" he called through the door. "He's just about to give up some information."

"New orders came through!" replied the voice on the other side.

"From who? You think you're talking to some annoying punk! I am Alexander Charon, head of PKM. No one has higher jurisdiction than I do."

"New orders came through!" repeated the voice.

"Fine." Grinding his teeth, Charon opened the door with a knife in his hands. Instead of some sweet, innocent little girl whom the voice sounded like, a woman with blazing purple eyes stood behind the door, casually holding a gun.

"Hi, Alexander Charon, head of PKM. Mind if I come inside?" asked Ame. She glanced past him to the prisoner. "My friend Ony looks like he's in bad shape. I hope you haven't permanently damaged him."

"…Ame…help me," groaned Goza. "He's…gonna kill me."

Ame shut the door behind her and locked it. "I cannot let him do that, my employers wasted too much time creating you and bonding that expensive Dark Onyx to you. Still, you have no one to blame but yourself for this mess. I told you not to engage them until you were strong enough. Your Dark Onyx is too weak to even hurt that traitor Eme." She crossed to Goza, still pointing the gun at Charon, and touched the prisoner's shoulders. "This is going to feel weird, but it will be over soon." She closed her eyes and something within her clothes glowed.

Goza gasped as he slid through the chair and landed on the ground. Ame dragged him away and he stood up.

"How did you do that?" he asked, amazed.

She shrugged. "Need to know basis. Alexander Charon, head of PKM, does not need to know." she shifted her gaze towards Charon, whose face seemed a little bit too calm. "Now, what would you like to do with him? My contract says nothing about whether Alexander Charon lives or dies, Ony."

Goza grinned. "Oh, I've got a few ideas," he murmured with a growl. He cracked his knuckles and took a step forward. Not wanting to be outdone by such a freak, Charon mimicked the motion.

"I as well, little freak," chuckled Charon, as he reached for his knife. "In fact, this could even be fun. For a while, at least, until you die."

But Ame consulted her watch, and halted the potential bloodbath. "Ony, we must move," advised Ame. "We are on a strict schedule, I need to bring you back to my employers. Vengeance will have to wait until your final upgrade. My clock is very specific on our time constraints."

Goza growled, but reluctantly followed Ame out the door. Charon watched, certain of his complete inability to do anything. After all, the girl had whisked his prisoner through a solid steel chair. His powers were much less.

When the door slammed shut he reached into his pocket and pulled out a communicator. "Bakaguru Niwa?" he asked.

"Charon?" replied the voice, with a bite of distain.

"Alexander Charon to you, tech monkey," said he. "Rally your troops together. We seem to have a wee infestation in our organization. Delay our plan to arrest Max Birch and Serena Brine, we may need them as cannon fodder."

A pause on the line. "What's the problem?"

"Our Dark Gem prisoner was released by another one, they're probably making their way towards the party as we speak. Inform the guests of honor of our…predicament. I don't want to have to replace the whole team after we just finished choosing new recruits."

"On it."

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Somehow, someway, Logan had gotten onto the chandelier.

Rigged especially for the event, it was now being used much like an expensive, shiny jungle vine. Twenty feet below him, the Red Ranger could hear shouts of encouragement from the ground. All of them begged for him to keep swinging, shouting his name like a holy chant. His ego, as it always did in these situations, began swelling to dangerous proportions.

"Logan, you idiot! Get down from there!"

Logan lost his focus, and almost his grip, but recovered just enough to look down into the angry, visually enraged face of the Golden Ranger. His nostrils flared beneath his dark goggles and his face was twisted into an expression that Logan had often seen on the man prior to engaging in combat. Lines formed around his mouth and brows, indicating his displeasure at Logan's behavior.

"No can do!" he replied and resumed his swinging. "Having way, way too much fun."

His fun was cut short exactly twenty seconds later, when he finally did lose his grip. Though his eyesight and brain were quite untouched by the keg stand he had so enjoyed, his coordination and the reflexes of his body were somewhat lacking. It was only because of Karin, his sweet luscious princess, that he was saved.

She leapt through the air and, much like catching a piece of meat before it fell to the germ-infested floor, caught the drunk Logan in her arms and landed perfectly on the ground. Everyone near the vicinity applauded.

0 groaned. "Karin, just take him back to your place and let him sleep it off. I don't want a drunk Logan roaming PKM completely devoid of common sense."

Karin set Logan down on his feet, but supported him from his shoulder as she began to walk him to their room.

"Oh, you are so getting rewarded for that later," Logan murmured, nobody but those nearest to him could hear it, and cheers erupted. As did Karin, who twisted his ear until a shrill shout of pain escaped his lips. When it died down, Logan's voice continued, obviously not learning its lesson. "We're getting in the hot tub and after a few more drinks I'm going to make you scream in a way that absolutely nobody but you-"

This statement ended, as many of them often did, by a blow to the head from the Pink Ranger that knocked Logan out and shut him up. She glanced at 0, who issued her a silent thumb's up of approval, before hauling the Red Ranger over her shoulder and heading out of the party.

0 sighed. "It's like cavemen. Only reversed."

"What's like cavemen?" 0 spun around: it was May wearing a brand new dress. Eyes followed her as she approached him, but a quick twitch of his mouth sent all the would-be suitors refocusing their attention on things that weren't the Golden Ranger's ex-wife. 0 found it impossible to look away, the way the light from the rafters above simply glowed on the dress' red hue.

"I'm underdressed." Compared to her he was. He was wearing his PKM uniform, several notches below May's dress in terms of class. She didn't seem to mind though and was more than happy to get a little closer, almost within arm's length.

"There are other things I like about that one," she said. Such as the golden hues, the fact that it showed off his rippling muscles, which he hadn't had three years ago. Those little, somewhat devious thoughts she kept to herself.

"Would you like to dance?" The music had, as if by divine intervention, just changed to a soft, slow waltz. "I learned during training."

She nodded and offered him her hand. "They taught you dancing in training?" she asked as he led her out onto the dance floor.

"They taught us a lot of stuff for espionage. Mine was high-class stuff, since I knew a lot of lower class things. Learning which fork was for what was the hardest lesson." May giggled as he confidently began to lead her through the dance.

It was one she loved, an older dance that for years had eluded him with its complexity and his lack of coordination skills. During their marriage when she'd wanted to dance she'd force Brock or, once, Drew, to dance with her and left 0 to watch. Now, however, it was the powerful Golden Ranger who waltzed her through the dance floor, his feet shifting with the music with a perfection that astounded her. In all their years together she'd seen 0 as a man so at home on the battlefield, but so clumsy when it came to social matters.

I suppose there are some positive things about him being a ranger after all, she thought to herself. _Besides the fact that he saves Sarah and my life almost every time we go out_. She chuckled and 0 perked up a brow.

"What is it?" he asked. His concentration never wavered from following the steps of the dance.

"Oh, just reminiscing." They danced in silence, her eyes tracing the edges of the dark goggles that shielded his eyes, until finally the music came to a slow, soft rest. Like the other couples in the crowd, the Golden Ranger and his ex-wife applauded the music selection choice. They then cringed when some sort of music came on in which the artist singing was attempting to rhyme, but was doing it with the class and capability of a three-year-old.

He knew personally a five-year-old could do much better. He watched as Sarah noticed him and May coming from the dance floor and abandon her uncle Max in order to run up. 0 bent down and grabbed her in a hug.

"Hey, kiddo," he said as he kissed her cheek. "You gonna dance?"

She shook her head. "Uncle Max can't dance. And Mrs. Karin took Mr. Logan to bed."

He grinned. "Want to dance with your Dad?"

She nodded eagerly. "Yes, Daddy!" she squealed and hugged him tighter.

He looked to May. "Mind if I take the young lady out on the dance floor?" he asked.

"Not at all. Have fun, Honey." She too bent down to kiss Sarah's other cheek.

"Thanks, Mommy!"

0 picked Sarah up and seated her on his fake left shoulder. He steered her through the crowd until he arrived at the disc jockey who was apparently the cause of the bad music playing. He was a younger agent, probably very new, so he snapped to attention the moment he saw 0 entering his small booth.

"Sir!" he shouted and snapped off a salute. "What can I do for you?"

0 returned the salute. "Change the music. My daughter wants something nice to dance to."

The jockey nodded eagerly, very excited to be talking to the Golden Ranger. "What did you have in mind?"

The Golden Ranger handed the young man a note. "Play this," he ordered and left the room without another word. He hardly heard the man's excited response about the excellent choice as he made his way back to the dance floor. He set Sarah down.

She tried hard to wrap her arms around his waist, and her father laughed when he saw that she didn't have long enough arms. "Don't laugh, Daddy."

"Sorry, kiddo," he said and took her hands and gently swayed her through the dance.

From afar, May watched as her daughter and the man who was once her husband danced. She couldn't believe it. The man her husband had become was so gentle when it came to Sarah and her, no matter what. She'd seen him tear through Rangerlings to protect them without a passing glance, and here he was trying as hard as he could to make sure that Sarah didn't so much as stumble on the dance floor.

They were about halfway through the dance when 0, for some reason stopped and put his hand to his ear.

"Yes?" he asked, in the tone of voice that suggested his patience was thin for interruptions. "What?" A different tone, one of concern. "On my way. Get the others."

He looked down at Sarah, who was incredibly confused as to why they had stopped dancing. "What's wrong, Daddy?" she asked.

He sighed. "Gotta go save the world again."

She nodded. "Okay, Daddy. Go beat them up."

0 walked off the dance floor and handed Sarah to May. "What's wrong?" she asked as she took hold of her daughter.

"Bakaguru just said to get mobilized. The Onyx guy they were keeping locked up escaped and he's heading this way. Get Sarah to safety and don't come out, no matter what."

"Of course. Come on Sarah." May and Sarah hurried out of the room. 0 went to go find Max.

He found him chatting with Serena. "Max, 3, we need to get going. There's been a breakout."

Serena's face was a little red. "I'm not 3 anymore. That girl is." She pointed to Yorfino, who was wearing her old jacket. She appeared to have a drink in her hand which had been refilled quite a number of times. "Call me 'Serena'."

Max, on the other hand, was quite alert. "Got it. Let's get moving."

"Find 415 and take her to Bakaguru to get her morpher now. 3, go get Karin and Logan. I'll hold him down until then." He didn't feel the need to mention he was going to be fighting without the full benefit of his Ranger System. Max nodded and dashed off. Serena, after a moment to judge if he was indeed serious, sobered up fast and took off in the opposite direction.

0 took the stage and shut off the music. Everyone, in anger and confusion, spun up to see what was going on. "Everyone, please make your way to the exits and prepare for combat. We have a confirmed escape of a prisoner. This is not a drill."

Within seconds everyone was in motion. Despite being in the air of the party and lax, all of the people present were still PKM Agents and still knew how to handle escapes. 0 waited until the majority of them had left for their battle stations before he switched his com-link back on.

"003," he said. "Where is the prisoner?"

The response came a few seconds later. "Prisoner has already reached upper levels, Gold. At this rate, he and his companion will reach the hangers in ten minutes. You can get there in five to head them off before they break out."

"Roger. 3 is getting 1 and 5, and Max is getting 415 to bring to you."

"Surely you're not thinking of fighting them on your own? That fake system I gave you will not last against a full blooded Dark Gem Ranger. You will probably only make it a minute, maybe two, into combat."

"That's enough time for the others to get there," said the Golden Ranger. "Let the others know the plan and I'll try to keep them from getting out of here."

"I will make sure they get there in time."

"Got it. 0, over and out."

"003, over and out." The line went dead.

0 took a deep breath. This would be a first, going into battle without Pi or his equipment to support him. He started jogging, then eventually broke out into a full run through the base. He passed people suiting up for combat, and decided he would do the same. He lifted the false morpher to his lips, it felt so much lighter than his regular one for some reason.

_ "Golden Spirit, Pokemon Power!"_

The golden burst of energy was still the same, but when the armor fell onto him 0 knew instantly that the armor was not his own. It was so much lighter than normal, just like the morpher. It almost felt like spandex with a little padding, completely unlike his regular heavy-duty armor. He tried to brush these thoughts out of his mind as he reached the hanger.

And then he waited. They arrived early, only four minutes later, but they were some of the fastest four minutes of his life. The Onyx prisoner and a woman who, 0 guessed, had freed him. She had dark purple hair and blazing eyes of the same color.

She stopped and consulted her watch. "You are Ranger Gold, correct?" she asked, as if verifying the proper delivery of a package.

0 nodded. It seemed redundant of her to ask him that while he was transformed.

"This is one of the people that my employers want alive," she told the Snagem commander. "Another is May Birch. We will have to obtain them quite quickly, otherwise my employers will be very unhappy with my performance. Go after Birch, I will deal with this one. Meet me back here with her in exactly five minutes."

"Don't think so," said 0. "You're going to have to go through me to get to anyone." Absolutely nothing in his voice hinted uncertainty in backing up that declaration.

She nodded. "I understand your resistance to the idea, but when I am contracted to something I fulfill it. As you are in our way and preventing timely completion of the contract, I will have no choice but to disable you." She turned to the giant hulk of a man next to her. "Go now, Ony. He will not stop you."

The Snagem commander she called Ony nodded. "Yes, Ame," he grunted and turned around and walked off.

0 had other ideas and put them into action. He leapt forward, completely aware of his inability to engage his Agility ability with Pi. "No you don't. Not again."

Ame, in a very controlled method, grabbed him as he attempted to dodge past her. With intelligence and a good grip, the Golden Ranger found he could not be dislodged from her grasp. He tried to twist away, but she was much too good for that. She did not even budge until Ony was out of sight, and only then did she let him go.

"Fine," 0 said. "I guess we'll start with you."

She merely offered him the slightest sign of a grin. "Go ahead, if you think you can hit me," she replied, with just a subtle threat on her lips.

He charged, enraged like a Tauros, and smashed into her. Or, to be more accurate, smashed through her. For whatever reason, the Golden Ranger sailed clear through her body and out the other side. He skidded to a halt and swerved back to glare at Ame through his mask.

She hadn't moved an inch. She continued to look at him with that same dull smirk.

"How did you do that?" he demanded to know.

She shrugged. "All of us with Dark Gems are special. Our specialty, however, is on a need to know basis. You do not need to know."

"Fine. Guess I can beat that out of you too before I deal with your big boyfriend."

"He is merely a pawn of my employer. I assure you our relationship is strictly business. Personally, I do not find him particularly useful."

"Then why'd you sneak into PKM to break him out?" 0 asked.

"I have commitments to the holder of my contract. It would be unprofessional of me to violate them under any circumstances. Regardless of my feelings on the matter, Ony must be returned to my employers, along with yourself and May Birch as collateral. Orders are orders, as the saying goes."

The Golden Ranger was quite confused at the new direction the conversation was headed. "So you don't want to take May Birch?"

"That is not important. What is important is that she must be taken. It is a very specific part of my contract."

And, without warning, she attacked. She delivered a punch to 0's midsection so powerful that, if 0 had not undertaken the training of PKM, he would never have been able to withstand. It would have torn through his stomach. Instead, the iron muscles of his abs remained intact long enough for 0 to bellow like a wounded Pokemon and smash her in the face.

She sailed across the room and recovered just as quickly. 0 growled and advanced. Ame just got right back up, as if completely immune to his attack. He threw one more punch to her head, smashing her into the ground. In spite of his technological shortcomings at that particular moment, 0 was a warrior. As such, his physique should have been more than adequate to take her down.

"Transform," he rasped, his voice just barely above a whisper. "Transform into that Dark Gem Ranger thing, and let's really fight."

From the floor he heard the reply. "That would be ill-advised, Ranger Gold," she replied. "My untransformed power level is more than able to take you down as you are now. In fact, I was about to suggest that you go get some reinforcements, but I doubt you would. You are a very, very proud man, Ranger Gold."

"People stronger than you have tried their luck and lost," he growled. His voice came out gargled, like the grunts of a mad beast.

"You are referring to the Rangerlings, or perhaps to the Dark Sapphire Ranger, am I right?" Ame simply giggled and shook her head. "No, Gold, I am afraid you have faced nothing like me before. Not even Ony, with all his brute force, can defeat me. I am second to none, save for my employers." She paused, long enough to look him up and down. "You are like a little insect to me, Ranger Gold. A pest to be dealt with in the manner I please. Our conversation now is only allowed because Ony has yet to retrieve May Birch. Were he here, there would be no contest. I would have no choice but to end it quickly. It is very unprofessional to be late."

0 simply readied another attack. It did not matter to him what their so-called difference was in power level. She was an enemy. All enemies, at one point or another, lost to him. He was the Golden Ranger, after all.

"You're nothing to me," he growled and advanced.

She merely sighed and moved to oblige him. Before he could even get out a punch, something from within her clothes flashed, and 0 found that her hand was buried deep inside his chest. Her wrist stuck out of his flesh, her hands had vanished within. 0 gasped, but strangely felt nothing. Her grin intensified.

"You understand, correct?" she asked. "As I have used the technique on you, you must be unclassified. My body, and my Dark Gem, are very special. So special they can, say, travel through solid objects and materialize at will. Imagine if my hand solidifies now, Ranger Agent Gold? What would you do to stop me from destroying what remains of your internal structure?" She leaned in, digging her wrist deeper. "Or, better yet, do you think PKM will be willing to save you a second time? After being such a nuisance to them time and again? I think it highly unlikely."

He simply glared at her, from beneath his visor. "No, I can't stop you," he conceded, but nothing in his tone suggested he was giving up. "But I can do this." And he screamed.

How he did it, or even where it came from, even the Golden Ranger knew not. Ame retracted her hand suddenly, out of fear, as a spark formed on his uniform and stung her, not enough to hurt but certainly enough to sizzle. Somehow he was producing electricity, without being connected to his Ranger System, without being connected to the Synchronization Drive, and even without being connected to Pi.

He roared a second time, his rage had exceeded her predictions. Ame had wanted to take him alive, without use of brute force, by taunting him until he tired. But this reaction had been completely unexpected, and she could do naught but watch as slowly the bulbs on the ceiling cracked and fizzled out. The light in the hanger died until at last the only thing glowing was the Golden Ranger himself, a bright figure of light in the dim hanger.

"Now," he growled, every syllable pure hatred, "let's see how well you can dodge." And he lifted the fingers of his right hand and pointed them much like he was mimicking a gun's figure. "Bang."

A jolt of lighting cracked and surged from his fingertips and he screamed. Ame watched as the electricity struck her and knocked her to the floor, smoke pouring from her head. 0 was barely aware of a second set of feet smashing against the floor, and turned towards the intruder.

It was Ony, or what was left of him. The figure that stood before him was ten feet in height, covered in Dark Onyx scales. Its visor looked down at him like a bug, and then turned towards its cargo. Slung over its shoulder was May Birch, and the Golden Ranger roared.

The Dark Onyx Ranger roared back and dropped May to the floor. Like a rag doll she smacked against the steel floor and laid still.

_ "Ka…"_ screeched the Golden Ranger, no longer of his own mind, too driven by the fight to think, _"Chuuuuuuu!"_ Another bolt of lightning issued from his fingertips and struck Ony. Its figure merely absorbed the lightning with just a twitch of discomfort. It shrugged off the blast and turned towards Ame, waiting for instructions.

"Take him," she ordered. "Alive."

It nodded and advanced. 0 screeched and blasted it again and again, no longer caring that it seemed to be absorbing his energy and converting it, strengthening itself somehow through its enemy's attack. All the Golden Ranger cared about was proving Ame wrong. He was strong! He was powerful! And his enemies turned to dust!

That was why, when the Dark Onyx Ranger grabbed him, he fired another batch of lighting. It roared, and so did 0, when the electricity coursed right back to him through Ony's touch. He screamed, and then he began to feel dizzy, numb…

Paralyzed.

"Take them," Ame ordered as she got to her feet. Her hair stood on ends. "We will be late if we delay any longer."

Ony grunted and did as it was told.

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"This is our final mission," Bakaguru announced.

Max Birch stood next to him, keeping a protective watch on Sarah. There were still tears in the little girl's eyes, and he felt the shame anew. His niece shouldn't have had to have these problems. He should have done more to protect her. Then he remembered his sister, his parents, and that nothing could have protected them against what had happened. No one could have predicted the life that Sarah would have forced on her.

And now her mother and father were gone. He had to get them back, he thought. She needed them.

Logan looked sober, he always did in missions. Karin stood by his side, again as always. Serena was at the computer, displaying a series of coordinates on screen.

"The false morpher contains a small tracer I designed for this very kind of emergency," Bakaguru explained and pointed to the coordinates. "It has been sending off a signal every two minutes for the last ten. Currently, May and Gold's captors seem to be heading due south, towards Gatling Port. It is the only colonized section of their location that has the means for them to be transported elsewhere."

"How are we supposed to catch up with them?" asked Logan.

Bakaguru smiled. "Jessie and James have been working hard on that. Serena, if you please?" He bowed as Serena typed in a few more keystrokes. The ground near them opened up, revealing what appeared to be a pad made of some strange, glowing metal. "A teleporter. Similar in design to the ones used to transport Poke Balls, this one has been modified to be able to send you to anywhere you need. But it is a one-way trip. The technology has not been perfected to the point where it can simply pick you out of nowhere and bring you back."

Logan stepped onto the teleporter and Karin followed. "Good. We won't be needing the return trip. Karin and I are scampering off after this little detour."

"What?" Serena asked.

"I will fill you in once we've finished business here," said Bakaguru. He presented two new Ailed Morphers from his pocket. "These are the Ailed Red and Pink Morphers. They will allow you assume your Ranger Modes again. Rescue Modes have been redesigned for better use."

Logan tore off the fake morpher he was wearing, Karin did the same, and together they sequenced their morphers. A dull red glow issued around Logan as he identified himself and locked himself in, while a pink glow surrounded Karin as hers analyzed her to confirm her identity.

"Agent 4," Bakaguru said, and turned to 415 in the corner. "The time has come." She came forward quite a bit hesitantly, as if not wanting to wake up from some wonderful dream. But it was no dream, as she realized when she confirmed her identity and downloaded Luxray into the morpher. The Pokemon just gave her a grin, it was eager to fight, before it vanished in a bright red digitizing light.

"Now we have a Ranger Black again. Congratulations." Bakaguru smiled with approval as she took her place next to Logan and Karin on the teleporter. "Ready to go?"

Logan nodded. "Punch this baby up!" he ordered.

"Not so fast!"

All three ranger, Bakaguru, Max, Sarah, and Serena turned to the door. Alexander Charon, a bright grin on his face, walked into the lab. Flanking him on all sides were two hundred armed PKM Agents, with two hundred guns pointed directly at Bakaguru. He chuckled and looked over at the engineer, making no attempts to hide his distain. Bakaguru gave Charon the same treatment.

"Operations are terminated," Charon said casually, right before he sat down in one of Bakaguru's comfy chairs. "We will no longer be pursuing Ranger Gold or May Birch. Both have shown to be very unreliable and I want them gone. Besides, I am ordering a team of fighter jets to that location now. It should be leveled in an hour or so, and then this whole business with Agent 0 will come to an end."

He then yawned and scratched his head, as if he'd just gotten off a hard day's work. Bakaguru was surprised he didn't ask for a pipe and slippers.

"We need to rescue Gold," he insisted. "He is the only one with the operational Synchronization Drive. We require the sheer strength he is capable of producing."

Charon clapped. "Bravo, are you an actor, Niwa? Really now, I know all about your little coup. Frankly, I thought it was adorable you could keep it from me, but the fact of the matter is that Gold does not have his little gadgets right now, does he?" Charon pointed to Bakaguru's coat. "It's right in there. And I want it for myself. I'd make a great ranger, don't you think so?"

Bakaguru did not so much as blink. "I will not turn the Gold Ailed Morpher over to you. Its rightful owner is Agent 0."

"My Council and PKM leadership supersedes anything you can throw at me, Niwa. Give me the morpher, or all these gentlemen will turn you into a steamy collection of bullets." Bakaguru looked toward Logan, who was already reaching for his morpher.

Charon snapped his fingers. When Logan pressed the button on his morpher, nothing happened. Logan tried again, with the same result, as Charon began to laugh. "Your morphers are so easy to disable, Bakaguru! Just select the right jamming frequency and presto! No more rangers to protect you from me."

Max growled, and the Dark Emerald's chain began slinking along his arms. "Don't think so," he hissed, and pressed the gem into his flesh. "_Dark Gem Igni_-"

Max failed to finish his sentence, because one of the Agents slammed a syringe into his neck. Max shrieked and fell to the floor, convulsing. His skin began to turn purple, and another of the Agents just enclosed Max in a little red bubble.

Charon grin grew broader. "It's amazing what even just a teeny spoonful of liquid nitrogen will do to someone, Niwa. I believe that takes care of all your pets. Why don't you give me what I want. I want the most powerful morpher. I want the system." He stretched out his hand and snarled, "Give it to me!"

Bakaguru put his hand in his pocket and squeezed the morpher inside. "No," he whispered defiantly.

Charon stood up and walked over to the engineer. "You think you're better than me, you little otaku? What do you have that even compares to who I am, and what I have? I am the head of PKM. You're just a project manager."

Bakaguru smiled. "I have friends who give me gifts," he replied quietly, just so Charon could hear, and punched the head of PKM directly in the face. Charon staggered back, and the battalion of agents stood silently, quite unsure of what to do now. No one struck Charon. Ever.

Bakaguru's hand emerged from his pocket, displaying a shiny, silver-and-orange watch. With a shout he clamped it to his arm, it bonded to him instantly.

"Now, old friend," he murmured, "let's see how well your invention works!"

He shouted, _"Master Mode, Online!"_

The transformation was not as flashy as the newer models, Bakaguru noticed. It was much more subtle, as the armor and protective plates covered him in silver and orange. The visor, nothing but a stylized rectangle and a mouth plate, clamped onto him and completed the transformation. The armor looked old and rusty, but when Bakaguru moved it made no squeaks, no creaks.

"I am Bakaguru Niwa," said the man inside the suit of armor. Charon scrambled to get behind the waves of grunts he'd brought. "I wield the powers of the Master Ranger."

He turned towards Serena, who seemed too stunned to even notice his order. "Close the doors please, and execute quarantine protocol. I don't want anything else getting in…or out." Somehow, he managed to find Charon in the crowd before the doors locked, trapping everyone inside. Charon scraped at the doors, but nothing he did changed the fact that he was now stuck inside a room with an angry, angry engineer.

"So what?" Charon asked, from the safety of his mob. "I've got two hundred guys with guns. You've got a rusty spandex uniform."

Bakaguru looked through the crowd, they all looked so young…he would have to work hard to make sure no one was killed. "No, I have a modified, updated suit of armor," he said, and the voice synthesizer made him sound terribly frightening to many of the onlookers. "You have bodies. Bodies that are in the way of me getting what I want."

And he attacked.

The first ten fell from his initial rush. He just smashed their heads through their helmets, enough to knock them out without causing permanent damage. A further fifteen fell instantly when the first ripple of gunfire issued, smashing into bullet-proof uniforms and hurting so many of them so badly many fainted. Within the first ten seconds, Charon's army was reduced by one-eighth.

The rangers, Serena, and Sarah watched on with amazement as their mentor and leader proceeded to tear through the ranks like a pro. Serena grabbed Sarah and hid them both behind some reinforced desks. Karin was eager to join the fray, but a few words from Logan convinced her to join Serena and Sarah. The force field cutting them off from Max was, ironically, taking out a lot of the Agents from ricochets.

Meanwhile, the Master Ranger made short work of the grunts. They were too green for someone like him, who'd been learning and studying fighting for decades. This, to him, was nothing more than the practical demonstration of his knowledge.

Within two minutes, two hundred unconscious bodies littered the floor like forgotten scraps of paper. Which, according to the Master Ranger's count, meant that the one feeble human in their midst must be Alexander Charon. Bakaguru stomped towards Charon and grabbed the head of PKM by the throat. Charon wisely did nothing, but did whimper quite a bit as Bakaguru walked him towards Max.

"Shut this off now," Bakaguru ordered. After Charon pointed out where the force field control device was, 415 released a gasping, but healed, Max from the force field. "How do you turn off the morphers?"

Charon showed Bakaguru a small switch in his belt. Bakaguru tore it off and smashed it. It crackled and died underneath his iron boots. Bakaguru tossed Charon against the wall and struck him with the force field, trapping the head of PKM in a place where he could not bother anyone for the time being.

Satisfied, Bakaguru demorphed. The armor simply faded away, revealing an exhausted, sweaty engineer underneath. He could barely stand.

"You okay?" Serena asked.

He nodded. "I have not morphed for many years. I forgot how tiring it is sometimes when you get caught up in the rush."

"You were a ranger?" Logan asked.

"Once, long ago," said Bakaguru. "I was on the same team as the previous Golden Ranger, after all. So was your father, Arthur. We once designed the initial prototype that went on to become the Ranger System, incorporating Pokemon. This-" He paused to indicate the morpher on his wrist "-does not use Pokemon. It was before Old Gold made the discovery of a Pokemon-powered suit. We discontinued this morpher's production, but we weren't made to turn them in. For fun, I've been modifying it over the years with scraps of new technology here and there."

"So you guys were the founders?" asked Serena.

Again, Bakaguru nodded. "Old Gold's system went on to become the advanced standard of the Ranger Agent System. Arthur was the one who found a way to reproduce it, and he created the basic Ranger Mode and Rescue Mode the Golden Ranger did not have. I became an engineer and helped them both until Arthur retired and Old Gold died." He sighed, but there was a slight smile. "Now I am going to help you. Get to the transporter now."

Max, Logan, Karin, and 415 did as they were told. Bakaguru handed Max a vial. "What's this for?" he asked.

"0 has not taken his serum tonight. Or, at least, I doubt he has. Give that to him."

Max nodded, so Bakaguru turned towards Charon and grinned.

"This isn't over!" shouted the head of PKM. "Others are on their way!"

"I'm sure they are," said Bakaguru and pressed a button on the bubble's controller. "Consider this my declaration of war, Alexander Charon. Serena, if you please?" Serena fired up the teleporter. The four figures on the pad glowed, then suddenly vanished, leaving her, Sarah, Bakaguru, and Charon as the only conscious people remaining in the lab.

"Now, I am afraid, the real trouble begins," murmured Bakaguru. He sat down and began to fan himself.

"What?" Sarah asked, looking up at him. He never ceased to be amazed at how cool and calm this five-year-old could be in situations like this.

"We need someone to bring the Ailed Gold Morpher to your father when it is finished sequencing," Bakaguru explained. "As I noticed from the footage from the hanger, I think it really will be his best shot at survival."

"What do you mean?" asked Serena.

"Ah, you haven't seen the footage yet, have you?" She shook her head. "Well, we have a bit of time. Come and look." Bakaguru positioned his chair in front of the computer and felt extremely grateful for the now-silent bubble the screaming Charon was trapped in. "This is footage taken only minutes ago from the hanger during Gold's battle without his morpher. Notice something?"

She watched as, somehow, 0 managed to summon lightning and throw it at his opponents. "He can generate it on his own?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes, for some reason I cannot understand," replied Bakaguru. "Agent 0 is evolving much in the same way his predecessor did. Look here as he shouts in the Pokemon dialect of the Pikachu." She watched as 0 did exactly as Bakaguru said.

"What's it mean?" asked Sarah.

"Good question. I wish I knew. I think he might be headed towards being trapped in morph, as Old Gold was. I do not know why either. Gold has had advantages that Old Gold never had…and yet the process is virtually identical. Gold's family is with him though, and he is surrounded by friends. Why is he evolving?"

"How can I help him?" Serena asked.

"The very question I was looking for, Ms. Brine," said Bakaguru with a smile. "Gold's new morpher, while retaining all of the older one's functions, is perfectly suited to the task of making sure that he does not get trapped in morph so imply. It has an inhibitor installed to prevent it from influencing him and fusing to him in a way that will leave him…impaired.

"But, how can we get it to him?" Bakaguru asked. "That is a question I need the answer to."

"I can take it," Serena said. "Give it to me, and I'll give it to him."

The engineer smiled. "That's very noble of you, Serena, but you would be walking into a slaughter. Those two Dark Gem cronies will not just stand by and let their precious cargo get away. This new leader, Ame, has none of the weaknesses of the Dark Sapphire Ranger. She sticks to a schedule."

"I don't care how, just let me do it." She didn't care either. The simple fact that her friend needed help…that was more than enough. "0 has saved my life so many times. I need to help him, even if I can't morph anymore."

"Perfect. You pass."

Bakaguru pressed another button on the computer. Instantly a new section of the floor opened up, revealing a chair. Straps covered the chair, obviously meant to bind the subject placed there. Serena walked over to it, stunned, then turned to Bakaguru.

"What's it do?" she asked.

Bakaguru straightened his glasses and reached into his coat pocket. What he produced looked a lot like the White Morpher, but so much more bright. "When they asked me to make a new White Morpher, I decided to modify your old one instead." This new one was glittering in the light and bright silver. "I present you with the Silver Ailed Morpher. Goes great with Gold, wouldn't you agree?"

He stood up, though it must have strained him to do so, and placed it in her hands. "A…Silver Morpher?" she asked, uncertain she had heard correctly.

"Yes. PKM stated your duties as White Ranger had been removed. Nothing was placed in there to suggest anything about a Silver Ranger. According to Charon's decree, there is nothing stopping you from becoming one." He turned to Charon and waved. "See, Alexander? I read between lines too!"

"But…" said Serena hesitantly, "I thought mine was destroyed. Seel was killed by Karin and the morpher broke."

Bakaguru smiled. "No dear. Karin knows a lot of things about her own morpher, but very little about how to actually destroy one. You cannot kill a ranger spirit without killing the ranger, it is just fact. No, what she did was take Seel off grid, so to speak. Knock it out. I simply haven't tried using a Revive yet."

That was all the convincing that she needed. "How do I get it to work?" she asked.

"Step into the chair. But-Serena!" He halted her, just as she was about to climb in.

"What is it?"

He sighed. "I have no idea what will happen. This experiment is just that: an experiment. There is no guarantee this will work, and there is a likely chance of death. Attempting to revive Seel will be difficult, but it needs to want to help you this time. Last time you bonded with Seel it was a last resort. This time the Pokemon has a choice to help you, and a choice to let you die." He paused, allowing this information to sink in. "Knowing this, do you still want to proceed?"

Serena looked down at the morpher in her hands. It was her identity. Then she looked at Sarah, being her father was 0's identity. She needed to help him, no matter what. She owed him that.

"I have to," she said as she climbed into the chair. "He needs me, as always."

Bakaguru nodded. "Very well. Strap the morpher to your arm, I shall begin the re-sequencing the Ranger System."

She did so, the morpher melded onto her skin like it was meant to be there.

"Press the button. The Ailed System does not require voice recognition, nor can it ever be removed by anyone save you. Should you die, the morpher dies with you. This will be a done deal, so to speak. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "I do." She lifted the morpher and pressed the button.

_ 0, I'm coming._

A bright silver flash issued, and the sequencing began.


	26. Morph 26

**Morph Twenty-Six: Tomorrow's Rangers, Part II**

Sparks of electricity were the only light in the dark storage container.

The Golden Ranger was still transformed, as much as he could still be. His helmet was partially there, with much of his mouth and lower face exposed. His gloves and boots were intact, but the rest of the uniform was nothing but torn stripes over his civilian clothes. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't demorph. He couldn't bring the fake uniform back inside the morpher.

"Where…are we?" he asked. He tried to shift his head, but another painful jolt of lightning shot through his body. He winced. He shifted his gaze to the woman who shared his prison.

"Somewhere near the water," said May Birch. She was resting against the container's wall, a safe distance away from the jolts 0 was producing. "I smell the sea."

0 could too, his nose seemed so much stronger, and he thought he heard the ripples of waves outside. "How long have we been here?"

"I don't know. I only just woke up a little while ago myself." He knew that, he'd heard her get up.

"Are you hurt?"

"A little." She rubbed her head and groaned. "But I'll be fine. How about you?"

"Busted. I need to get my new morpher." Briefly, he summarized exactly what had been planned with Bakaguru. Not that it mattered anymore, 0 was certain that any chance of escape was gone. "I can't wait for the others. They should have been here by now."

"Relax." She shushed him and scooted closer. She considered touching him, and almost did, but a spark that leapt across his chest kept her hands by her sides. "I'm sure Logan and the others will be here soon. We just need to be patient."

"What about Sarah? Can she be patient?"

May chuckled. "She's stronger than you think. She knows we'll come back. She's not the little baby that used to cry whenever you left on one of your…trips." Her face fell. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that back up."

His breath became a little ragged. "No…I don't mind at all," he murmured. "I kinda deserve it. It's just that…"

"Just what?"

Another jolt shot through him, and he groaned. "I can't stop thinking of her as the little baby who used to bounce around in her playpen every time I got home. Remember, I'd always say, 'I'm back', and you would always say-"

"'Bout time, now where's that trophy'," she finished. "And you'd always have some giant golden monstrosity for us to put in the garage next to the others. We ran out of room…" They had had a small, modest house, and after 0 had joined PKM and gone off on so many…trips, the big trophies took up too much space.

"Then we'd take Sarah out of her pen and let her try to run around. She always wanted me to hold her." 0 laughed, it was hard and gritty but it was a laugh nonetheless. "We'd always have to put her in her high chair before dinner…"

"That was so long ago. I gave that chair away on a charity auction a few years ago, when she got big enough to sit in a regular chair."

There was silence for a while. 0 was trying to put what he wanted to say into words, and May wanted to give him the time he needed to do so. Through the visor, he looked up at her. Even with half her face bruised, she was still so beautiful…she hadn't aged a day.

"Do you…remember that night?" he asked. "The night I came back, for the last time?"

She bit her lip, but nodded. "Yes."

"I remember walking through the door, just like I always did. I remember that Sarah wasn't in her playpen, you'd put her to bed early. I guess that was a good thing, didn't want her to see the fight. Why did we fight, anyway? Why did you even start it?"

She remembered. "I was…so angry at you. I was looking through your clothes, I found a cell phone, a weird cell phone, in one of your pants. You always asked me to check if you forgot to take something out of them before I washed them."

"Yeah," he muttered. "My communicator. I got reprimanded pretty badly for leaving that behind, actually."

She continued. "All of a sudden, it started to ring. There wasn't a caller ID, so I just answered it to let the person know you'd forgot it. I figured maybe it was a publicist or something, you were just trying to keep our phone from being spammed. I wanted to believe anything.

"Then I heard her voice. I didn't know it was Serena, when I met her with you that first time I knew I'd recognized her from somewhere. She was the one calling you.

"She said, 'Hey, baby', before I even got a chance to say anything.

"I said, 'No, this is May Birch. Who is this'? I was too shocked to say anything else.

"'Oh, so this is May', said the other voice. 'I've heard so much about you from your husband'. She giggled, really excited like. I didn't know."

"3," said 0, "has always been close to me. I'm the reason she's a ranger, and she's one of the main reasons I'm still sane. After I left, she was my only friend in the world. Besides Pi, of course."

"I shouted something at her, I don't even remember what, and I shut off the phone and smashed it against the wall. Then I went back upstairs, tucked Sarah into bed early, and waited for you. I thought about everything I wanted to say to you, what I thought of you, but when I saw you all my thoughts just went away in the screams."

He remembered. She had called him things that he could never repeat, and that no one should have to hear from the person they love.

"Then I just told you to leave, and that I never wanted to see your face again."

He had, during the argument, never said anything against her. It had almost been like he wanted to be caught, to let the lies out he'd been keeping from her. Never had she known he had done it to protect her and Sarah. Never, until he returned.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there, May," he groaned. His electric bursts were becoming more erratic and he was feeling withdrawal set in. He should have taken the serum early… "I couldn't keep you safe. That's all I ever wanted to do, and I couldn't even do it without hurting you."

"You did protect us. You were always with us."

"I wasn't." He coughed, his neck hurt again. "When…I was a kid, when I first met you…I never talked about my father, did I?"

"I don't really remember. If you did, it wasn't that much."

"It's because I didn't know him. Every time I asked my mother, she would always say he was still on a journey. She never told me where, or why. I promised myself that Sarah wouldn't grow up like that, not knowing who her father was. I promised myself she wouldn't live like that, and I lied to her and myself."

"That's not true," whispered May.

"It is."

"It's not," she insisted. "She knows now who her father is. She knows who he is and what he has done to protect her. Your daughter knows you are what you are because you wanted to protect her, 0. You wanted to protect her and me. And you have."

0 looked around. "Wouldn't be too sure of that. We are locked in a storage tank, after all."

"Just a setback. Everything will be fine, I promise."

"And then we can run away together?" He smiled, he would like that very much.

She nodded. "It'll be just the three of us. A perfect family."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

_"It's just the three of us now…"_

_ The two boys who stood next to Serena were taller than she was. They towered over her by about a head, but it wasn't like they were mean or anything. They were just older. Her big brothers._

_ They were standing near two pits of earth, both recently dug. Caskets were being lowered into them, and Serena couldn't stop crying. She loved her big brothers, that was true, but she didn't want to lose her parents. It still felt like a nightmare, and that she would wake at any moment and be comforted by one of the big strong hugs her father always gave her. They always made her feel safe._

_ Now there would be no more hugs from Father, no more tissues from Mother._

_ "Just the three of us," the other, younger brother repeated. They stood side by side, with Serena in the middle, offering their little sister as much comfort as siblings can give to one another. Each of her hands held one of theirs. She tried hard not to cry, but the burning sensation behind her eyes was growing unbearable._

_ "It's okay, little Serena," said the boy on the left._

_ The brother on the right nodded. "You can cry if you want to. We won't mind."_

_ She still tried to hold them back, but her lips trembled just slightly. A torrent of tears flooded out of her tiny emerald eyes. She screamed at the sky._

_ "Mommy! Daddy!"_

_ The twin on the right hushed her. "Now, now, little Serena. Mother and Father are in a better place-"_

_ "-And we still have each other, right?" finished the one on the left._

_ She supposed they were right, but still…she looked at the pits. They were being filled up, now nothing would bring their parents back._

_ One twin looked at the other. "Come on, little Serena. We want to show you something."_

_ They took her hands and led her through the vast mansion that was their home. People, grownups, would be coming soon to talk to them about the future of their parents' business, but for now it was just the three of them. They didn't want to talk about the whole PKM business that they knew they would have to in only a matter of time. Time was important, that's what their family lawyer had said. They didn't believe him, he was an adult. What he wanted, what the grownups wanted from them…_

_ That could all wait for a little while._

_ The walkway they were on soon gave way to the girl's favorite place in the world: the mansion's garden. Walls of flowers watched the three children as they entered, statues of all sorts of Pokemon almost seemed to rise to greet them. Despite the sadness of the day, Serena couldn't help but feel a little better in this bright, happy place that was surrounded by so much gloom._

_ In the center of the garden, where they seemed to be headed, Serena saw a fountain etched with carvings of only the most beautiful water Pokemon. It was easily her favorite piece of art in the garden. She would spend hours looking at the exquisite detail of each Pokemon, no matter how small, on its surface. She loved the little ones the most, they were the ones with the most care taken in their carving._

_ In the fountain was a small, white Pokemon playing. It belonged to her brothers, a gift from their parents. When she got older, her mother and father had always said, they would give Serena a Pokemon just as wonderful. It was an energetic, fun-loving Seel, a Pokemon without legs but with plenty of humor in the way it would bob its head this way and that through the water, trying to catch all the food they gave it each day._

_ It was always happy to see Serena. It would wag its tail when she entered the garden, and hop out of the water to get her wet in a massive hug. It would juggle for her, play with her, and do whatever she wanted. It did this because its trainers, the twins, wanted to see their sister happy, and nothing made their sister happier than playing with Seel._

_ They stopped just short of the fountain's edge and Seel, as always, floated out to greet them in its lazy, playful voice. "_Seel_," it said mournfully. It knew what had happened, it had seen the caskets from the garden's windows. It saw how sad Serena was, and tried to nudge her face into a smile. It half-succeeded._

_ "Seel," said one twin and brushed its sleek fur. "We want to do something nice for little Serena."_

_ "Something nice," the second twin agreed. "We want to give you to her."_

_ "What?" Serena asked aloud. Seel had a similar, confused reaction. Its big eyes, formerly happy and lifelike, now looked worried._

_ "_Seel, Seel_!" it asked wildly._

_ The first twin hushed its worries. "No, we still love you quite a lot. Isn't that right?" He turned to his brother, who nodded. "But little Serena needs you more than we do. We have one another. Little Serena doesn't have a twin to look after her. She just has us. She needs more, okay Seel?"_

_ "We just want to lend you to her. Until she feels better, okay?"_

_ The Seel looked at each of its trainers, then settled its gaze upon the confused Serena. It saw past that bewilderment and into the pain she was hiding. It turned to its trainers and gave one big nod of its head._

_ "_Seel_," it said. More than anything, it wanted to help its family._

_ "That's a good Seel," whispered one twin._

_ "We promise we'll still love you," said the other._

_ They pulled out a Poke Ball and, together, returned Seel inside it. They smiled and patted the ball's surface. They still didn't quite understand how such a large Pokemon could fit inside such a tiny, tiny ball._

_ They turned to Serena, and showed her the ball._

_ "Here you go," said the first twin._

_ "Your very first Pokemon…"_

The courtyard was empty.

Serena Brine was hallucinating, possibly an after-effect of the sequencing process. She recognized where she was immediately, how many times had she come to this garden as a child? The walls were still there surrounding it, but instead of nostalgia and wonder as she had felt as a child she now sensed only loneliness and despair.

The flowers were all rotted from years of neglect and when Serena got too close to them she found they stank like days-old garbage. She pulled her hand to her nose and continued past the flower garden. The ground she walked in, instead of luscious grass like when she was a child, was now nothing but dust and earth. Each step she took seemed difficult, and she always seemed to remain in the same place. After so long, she knew exactly why she was here.

_ Seel, you've brought me to face you_.

The fountain had dried up after all the years of neglect. The carvings, once so beautiful and fair, had faded away. Occasionally, when her eyes glanced upon its surface, she saw some faint signs of the Pokemon that once adorned its surface. Long ago, she could remember them all.

Now, in the middle of the pool, sat a little girl with silver hair so much like her own. The girl couldn't have been more than five or six years old, but seven might not have been an unreasonable guess. She looked at Serena with tired, weary eyes.

Serena knew what she was. She saw the girl's reflection: a Water Pokemon with flippers and a small horn and a wagging tongue.

"Seel," she said. Slowly, the girl nodded her head.

"Little Serena," Seel said back, in a voice that sounded so much like the little Serena Seel had been given to. "You found me."

The little girl stood up, she looked so exhausted, and walked over to the edge of the fountain. It was an awkward shuffle, the Pokemon did not know how to properly project the illusion of walking. She rested against the edge and peered up into Serena's eyes.

"I've missed you," Seel said.

Serena nodded. "I missed you too." She sat down next to her Pokemon. "Why are you like this?" she asked. "Why do you look like me, from when I was a kid?"

Seel shrugged. "This is my world, inside the morpher," she explained. "I wanted to remind you of the first time you became my trainer. Do you remember that day?"

She did. "The day my parents died. My brothers gave you to me. They wanted me to have a Pokemon from Mother and Father."

Seel shook her head. "No. It was the day your brothers lent me to you. I wanted to help you, so they let me. But I was always going to go back to them. Always."

It took a moment of silence, but Serena finally understood what Seel was trying to say. "I became a ranger," she whispered, "to fight them. I made you help me hurt them."

Seel, satisfied, nodded her head. "I was so scared, little Serena. I didn't want to fight them, your brothers who said they loved me. You made me…and I was so scared that I-that I…" Her voice faded away and her chin wobbled as tears began forming in her eyes. "Why did you have to hurt them? They weren't doing anything wrong to us! They were pretending! They were playing!"

She sniffed some of the snot from her nose. "And you never explained. You never tried to talk to me again! Because you felt guilty! Because I reminded you of them! Because you hated me, didn't you?"

Seel tried to say more, she was on the verge of screaming. But Serena hushed her and embraced Seel in her arms.

"Seel, I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I didn't want to lose them either. I thought you hated me so much, for making you fight them, that that was why you never spoke to me again. When I transformed that first time, and you were with me, I felt your fear. I thought you were angry with me.

"I had to fight them." Seel had opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when Serena continued. "They were going to kill 0, and me. They were going to do…terrible things to us. Things that make me wake up in the night screaming, with the bed soaked with sweat. I'm so scared of them Seel. I don't know why they went so bad. I loved them so much, as much as I do Mother and Father. I tried to keep us together, one big happy family. But I didn't."

She felt tears of her own fall down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Seel. I just wanted to protect 0, me, and you. I didn't want them to hurt us."

"Little Serena…" There was a faint breeze in the air, it fluttered through the dead flowers. "Do you need me again?"

"I do. I thought you had died, Seel, and left me. I can't lose you, you're the only thing I have to remind me of the better times, before I became a ranger." She lowered her eyes and stared into Seel's. "But this time you have a choice, Seel. I became a ranger with you because I needed to be one, because I needed to protect my partner. This time, I want to become one because I have people I need to save, and because I want you to be there by my side."

Seel's tears fell into her hands, where they began to glow. Slowly, the Silver Morpher began to appear and the wind grew stronger through the garden.

"Will you fight with me, Seel?" Serena asked.

The Pokemon nodded. "I will, little Serena."

And Serena took the Silver Morpher and put it on her wrist. Seel lifted her hands to touch its surface, and closed its eyes.

"Then let's go save the world."

A blinding silver light filled the garden. Seel started to change, shifting from the shape of a little girl into a magnificent, elegant creature with long, flowing fan-like flippers and a sleek body. It was, somehow, evolving.

In moments, a Dewgong floated through the air, enveloping Serena in its embrace. She felt it bond to her, transform her.

Morph her.

Serena awoke in Bakaguru's lab, covered in armor.

Bakaguru watched with Sarah as the figure in the chair began to glow from head to toe in silver light. They watched as silver boots and gloved took shape, silver leggings and a short skirt replaced her pants. They watched a black belt form and from there silver armor upon her chest and back emerged. The face of a proud Dewgong, in black silhouette, appeared on the center of her chest. Black armor covered her shoulders and arms and touched the silver gloves.

Finally, her face was covered by a silver helmet with an upside-down triangular visor over her eyes and brow. A black mouth plate covered her lower face. When the transformation was complete, the Silver Ranger stood up from the chair and her entire body seemed to glitter.

"Wow!" screamed Sarah. "You look so beautiful, Miss Serena!"

Bakaguru smiled. "Good thing you bonded to it. Replacing you at this point would be quite impossible."

From behind the mask, Serena giggled. "This feels a little weird," she said, her voice somewhat muffled by the helmet. "It's definitely heavier than my White Ranger uniform."

Bakaguru nodded. "I outfitted this one with a tougher material. Don't worry, it's still built around your natural fighting style, but it's harder to damage."

"Aw, always looking out for me…" she teased.

"It's time to go, Serena," said Bakaguru. He had in his hands the fully-functioning Gold Morpher. "Remember, this must be bonded with 0 to help him fully recover. He hasn't taken well to being separated from his ranger spirit for even this short amount of time."

She nodded and preciously held the morpher that contained Pi. "Of course. But what are you going to do? Eventually, the quarantine is going to be broken into. What about Sarah?"

Bakaguru grinned. "I assure you that Sarah will be well taken care of," he said with a smile. He looked down at the little girl. "Isn't that right?"

She nodded eagerly. "Yup, just come back safe, Miss Serena!"

The Silver Ranger nodded. "I'll bring your parents back, Sarah. Promise."

She stepped into the transporter. As Bakaguru fired it up, Serena looked through her visor. Her ranger spirit was now displayed at the bottom edge of her screen.

"Ready, See-Dewgong?" she asked. She still wasn't quite used to its evolution.

She heard a giggle. "Ready," it said back.

Then she was gone.

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Ten minutes earlier, Logan and his team found themselves in quite a predicament.

"Okay guys," he said. "So, Bakaguru didn't exactly say which really big storage container we were supposed to look through, so it might be a good idea for somebody to give him a call. Maybe ask for directions too, since this is one maze I don't really feel interested in getting lost in."

Bakaguru had transported them into a shipping yard. A shipping yard filled to the brim with thousands upon thousands of identical shipping containers. Like any good leader, Logan was naturally quite annoyed by this turn of events. It would mean a lot of work they couldn't do running against the clock like this.

"Could we morph and use our scanning equipment to determine their location?" The suggestion came, in her logical way, from 415. She apparently didn't like the cold, Logan noticed she was hugging her new ranger jacket quite a bit.

"Good idea," said Logan. "Glad I thought of it. Let's test these Ailed babies out!"

In unison Logan, Karin, and 415 all pressed the trigger buttons on their morphers. Max watched with interest as each was surrounded by a color-specific Poke Ball-like hologram. When each ball opened, the person inside it was instantly transformed into their Ranger Mode.

Logan pressed his gloves against his helmet and chuckled. "Wow! We look so cool now!" Aside from a few minor aesthetic differences, not much had changed. Aside from their specific colors, Bakaguru had modified them to look much like the Ranger Silver System's uniform. The only exception was 415's uniform, where the black arms and shoulders had been replaced by blue, a side effect from her Ranger Spirit. Hers also had some spikes along her arms, giving her a much more menacing and demonic appearance.

Logan's, by contrast, looked much more aerodynamic and Karin's looked more resistant. Max wrapped his Dark Emerald's chain around his arms.

_ "Dark Gem Ignite!"_

The armor, as it always did, emerged from his skin and clamped into place, taking only a few moments to transform.

"Her, Scizor, connect me to Bakaguru," Logan muttered to his ranger spirit.

"Of course," came the scratchy reply. "There."

The link was filled with static, but present. "Red, is that you?" asked the voice on the other end.

"You bet, sweet cheeks. How's little girl Silver doing?"

"Sequencing has begun. She won't be online for a while."

"Got it. Hey, listen…the place you sent us to has a lot of storage boxes. Big storage boxes. Think you can bust out Gold's tracking signal and give us an idea of where he is?"

"Negative. The signal is too weak now for that. I wouldn't know where you are either in relation to it. Your new Ailed Morphers have had their tracking devices removed for when we make our escape. You cannot be found by any radio or signal means. Even this line cannot be traced."

"Nifty. Which brings me to my second question: can we use Max as a bloodhound? Assuming he's got better senses in Dark Gem mode?"

"That is possible. The Dark Emerald can track down its tamer, in this case Gold, but Gold isn't wearing his morpher right now. Max would only respond to that stimuli."

"Huh." Logan looked at Max and sighed. "Well, you're of no use." The Dark Emerald Ranger just growled softly, eager for combat. "Oh wait, 415 said we could use scanning equipment. These new Ailed suits have those, right?"

"Yes, in a limited capacity. You have night vision and basic heat vision. Some scaling back was needed to optimize efficiency."

"Got it. Let us know when Serena's made the crossover and on her way. Red, out."

"003, out."

Logan turned to his team. "Okay, let's split up. Karin, 415, you take the east side, and I'll keep Max in line while we take a look at the west side. Sound good?"

Karin was already leaving with 415, presumably heading east. Logan took another look at Max and sighed.

"This is gonna be a long night. Hey, do you know where west is?" The Dark Emerald Ranger did not reply, so Logan headed in the opposite direction the girls did, with 0's pet monster right behind them.

They walked for thirty seconds in silence when Logan found himself unable of remaining silent any longer. "Can you talk?" he asked as they searched.

The Dark Emerald Ranger was silent. If Max was still in there, he wasn't talking.

"Like, I don't know, how about trying to say 'hi'?" Logan suggested. "Or maybe 'good evening'? Or, if you want to be really cool, you could say 'I think Logan is the sexiest man alive. Seriously, is there nothing this guy can't do? He's just like a super spy in one of those action movies, where the super spy meets the hot rival spy and they fall in love and team up to save the world'? I love those movies, the girls always look so great in spandex." He paused, as if thinking. "Note to self- buy Karin spandex." Then he turned to Max. "Think you can say any of that?"

"_Laaaaade_," hissed the Dark Gem Ranger.

Logan put his finger on his mouth plate. "I guess I'll take that as a maybe. What about the last one I suggested? Say that one."

The Dark Emerald Ranger grabbed Logan and shoved the Red Ranger against the nearest shipping container. "_Gallla, Laaaaaaade_." The message, even to Logan, was quite clear.

"I'll take that as a no. Now let me down, we gotta find 0 and May."

The mention of their names seemed to hit some neutrons in Max's brain, because the dark ranger lowered the Red Ranger back to the ground so the two of them could continue their stroll. Logan used the infrared in his scanning equipment, Bakaguru had replaced the night vision with that, seeing as Logan did not require night vision.

"Still not seeing anything," he muttered in disappointment. "You smell anything, big guy?" Again, no answer, so Logan hooked himself up to 415 and Karin. "Hey, anybody find anything yet?"

"Nothing," reported 415's curt voice. "I presume you also found nothing."

"Good guess, Captain Obvious. We've swept about fifty crates or so, how about you guys?"

"Maybe two hundred. Women work faster than men."

"Not when I'm around. Ain't that right, Karin?" Logan could practically hear the embarrassment from Karin's trademark silence. "Oh, she likes it sloooooow, and I'm more than happy to-" Logan paused in mid-sentence.

"Lose your perverted train of thought?" 415 asked.

"Nope. Found some moving bodies." Logan narrowed his vision on the two figures huddled in the container next to him. One had a regular signature, but the other one was erratic. Every once in a while something would jolt out of it, like lightning or something. "Confirmed sighting of the lovebirds. Max, you still got the serum?"

The Dark Emerald Ranger held up a vial. "Good boy. Now, help me open up the crate please. Karin, 415, head west in our direction. Bakaguru said trackers wouldn't work on our morphers, so find the big flashing lights from my Claw Cocktail."

Logan, via Scizor, summoned the weapon. Unlike normally, it downloaded in an instant. "Guess the weapons are stored in our morphers now…Bakaguru cut off all dependence on PKM." He pointed the cannon up at the sky and fired once. The blast ripped through the air and smashed through the clouds above. "Next," he said and pointed to the crate. "Max, back up a little, you're right in my line of fire."

The dark ranger did as he was told and Logan fired the cannon. The door to the container ripped apart and blasted through the wall on the other end. Fortunately, he had aimed so precisely that neither 0 nor May were ever in danger of being hurt. The Red Ranger strode into the container and grinned under his helmet.

"Lucy, I'm home!" he called and banged on the wall. "You guys alright?"

May nodded. "Thanks, Logan. We're okay. 0 needs some serum, did you bring any with you?"

Logan nodded and snapped his fingers at Max. "Jolly Green had it last time I checked. Max, serum please." He watched as Max shifted his arm to his side and the serum vial simply formed out of the Dark Emerald Ranger armor. The beast handed it to the Red Ranger, who took it with some disgust. "Gotta figure out a better, less creepy, way for you to do that. Here ya go."

May thanked him a second time and bent over 0 to administer the serum. 0 took her through the procedure and within moments he was standing, though he needed to lean on the wall for support.

"Logan, thank you," he said. His mouth seemed dry. He raised his hand to shake Logan's, but the Red Ranger noticed a jolt coming and didn't take it. The Golden Ranger winced.

"That's new," Logan muttered. "Somebody overpay the electric bill?"

"Very funny. What's with the new getup?"

"Bakaguru updated our uniforms, makes them look much more sexy. We should probably get out of here. Pretty sure that cannon blast I used to give Karin and 415 our location will probably mean baddies will show up soon." He heard footsteps outside. "That's probably them. Should we run?"

"We will not," 0 hissed. "Did you bring my new morpher?"

"That I did not do. My secret informants tell me someone else has that job. Right now though, I don't think it's a good idea for you to fight. Why don't you go and get May to safety. Max and I will handle the Rangerlings. Then when 415 and Karin get here, this whole thing will get really kinky." He rubbed his hands together with glee. "Yes, quite kinky indeed."

"_Laaaaaaade_," growled the Dark Emerald Ranger. It could smell the Dark Onyxes that were approaching.

"Go fetch," Logan ordered. "I'll join you promptly."

The Dark Emerald Ranger snarled with what Logan interpreted as pleasure, and exited the container via the large hole Logan had made. Shortly after, very loud and painful shrieks began to fill their ears.

"You should probably go, Miss Birch," said Logan and he pointed his cannon at another section of wall. It blasted apart. "Go through there. I'll cover you, Golden Boy."

"Thank you, Logan."

"Hey, it's loveable me. Now get out of here before you get us killed."

Logan dove through the hole in front of them and instantly found himself surrounded by quite a few of the little black bugs. With a few well-placed shots, most of them were thrown away by the kinetic force inside the cannon's blast and he was calling for 0 and May to run. The two figures dashed beside him and Logan's voice echoed through the night.

"Yee haw! Get some, Rangerlings!" He fired into the crowd some more, waiting for his Karin and 415 to get there. They arrived on the scene within the minute, both of them already in Rescue Mode. Karin was turning the Rangerlings into metaphorical jelly just by touching them with her sonic vibrations while something was allowing 415 to hit each and every one of the Rangerlings with perfect precision and speed, like lightning bolts. The fact that she was killing them with her bare hands made the feat much more impressive.

"Hey, kiddies!" shouted Logan. "Glad you could join the party." Then he contacted Scizor. "I'm going to need the scissors. These things need to be put down, not blasted around."

"Good idea," said the old warrior, and in moments Logan was the proud wielder of his own blades. He celebrated this by plunging them into two Rangerlings at the same time. They shrieked and crumbled to dust.

Over the screams, Logan heard a distance roar and groaned aloud.

"Guys, looks like we've got Shadow Pokemon on the loose. Karin, 415, divert attention to those things. Knock them out and try to bag them, if you can. I don't want them dead, got it?"

"Confirmed," 415 replied and dashed off to the sound of the roars. Karin followed, but only after she obliterated the five Rangerlings surrounding her with her sonic blasts. Somehow, those seemed to make their Dark Onyxes weaker and easier to break.

Logan turned to Max. "How's it going?" he shouted.

The Dark Emerald Ranger shrieked as one of the puny Rangerlings, a pipe in hand, tried to break the Dark Emerald lodged in his chest. The pipe broke and so did the Rangerling, because Max grabbed it and ripped it in half, right down the middle of its Dark Onyx.

"Guess it's going pretty well." Logan wondered about that, as he tore through about a half-dozen Rangerlings. Why were Ame and Ony sending weak little things like these after PKM's former elite team of rangers? They had even allowed their cargo to escape, something that Logan was certain had been way too easy.

"What's going on?" he wondered.

His question was answered sooner rather than later, something he normally preferred but could do with an exception under the circumstances. He first noticed something bad was probably heading his way when the ground started to shake. He also notices a slight twinge in his stomach when he realized that the Rangerlings were simply fleeing from the scene, rather than stay like noble idiots to die uselessly.

But it wasn't until he saw the thing taller than the freight containers, with about as much weight, that he felt a sense of trouble.

"Whatever kind of milk Ame's got in her pocket, it worked," he breathed as the Dark Onyx Ranger came stomping down the lot in his general direction.

Easily something like ten feet tall, possibly larger as Logan couldn't really guess its exact height, the Dark Onyx Ranger was a big boy indeed. Its entire body was covered with Dark Onyxes, its entire muscle-bound, probably indestructible body. To Logan, this meant that things were not going to end well.

By its side was Ame, with a smug smile on her face. She raised a hand, and the beast suddenly halted. Even the Dark Emerald Ranger, sensing its kind, stopped to watch the hulking figure of the Dark Onyx Ranger and little Ame.

"Good evening, Ranger Red," she said, as if conducting an interview.

"Evening. Mind letting us past your troll there? I don't think it's had its bath yet and this is a brand new suit. Wouldn't want to ruin it with ogre sweat."

Ame chuckled. "So quick with the puns, Ranger Red. I would not put it past you to write them ahead of time, just in case. However, my contract states that your request cannot be granted. You are to be terminated for releasing my cargo." She looked up to Ony and smiled. "Fight until they die, or until you die. That is all, wait for my mark."

The monster prepared its attack by assuming a stance not unlike a sumo wrestler. "Any last words?" asked Ame, and her bright eyes flashed dangerously in the darkness.

"Not from my friend," said Logan. "But I have several, most of them not monosyllabic. You see, I am afraid that I am utterly incapable of dying."

"You're immortal?" The look on Ame's face suggested that was quite a ridiculous notion.

"Nope. But I do have certain obligations. Like, for instance, my mother." He immediately took up a pose one might see from a thespian. "You see, I must bear an heir. I have been trying so very hard to with my current lover, a truly lovely young lass. And when I say trying, I mean we're giving this all we have. Like, you cannot fathom the lengths we have endured for this. The lovely, quite sinful lengths. But we forge on, in spite of the odds against us!" His voice reached a quivering pitch, like an actor at the cusp of a climax.

"Does this have a point, other than to boast about your sex life?"

He nodded. "It does indeed. That, for instance." Logan pointed one of his blades up, up, to the Dark Onyx Ranger's head. There, directly at the top, was Karin, firing all of her sonic waves directly into the beast's head. "That's my girl! Deadly in the field, but almost lethal in bed!"

Ame grunted with annoyance. "Kill them," she ordered.

The monster attempted to run, but found its equilibrium messed up. It tripped and crashed into a nearby containment tank, where Karin leapt off to join her partner. After smacking Logan in the head, which he probably did deserve, they regrouped with 415 and Max.

"How were the Shadow Pokemon?" he asked.

"Removed and quarantined. I placed a PKM tracer on them, should they wish to pick them up."

"Good girl. Now, let's deal with fatty here…" The Dark Onyx Ranger was picking itself up and was gearing up for round two. "Max, play fetch with its legs. Karin, get to the head again. 415, keep track of it and go for the weak points. Smash the Dark Onyxes, the more we take out the weaker it'll be."

"What will you do?"

"Wondered when you were going to ask me that. Scizor, Rescue Mode." In seconds, Logan had his wings. "I'm going to annoy the hell out of it."

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The Golden Ranger was still unable to demorph.

After he and May had found a safe place to hide and wait for his morpher, he was still nowhere close to assuming his regular body. The armor just didn't want to come off and it was only making the jolts worse.

"At least I can still think," he muttered. The serum was now in full effect, it must have been an especially potent dose. "May, are you alright?"

"Fine, 0," she insisted. He'd been asking every few minutes or so. "How are the others doing?"

"Can't tell. I took us far enough away so that you wouldn't be found. Now all we can do is wait for the morpher."

"Who's bringing it? Surely not Bakaguru…"

"No. He's not the one bringing me the morpher. Bakaguru's old. Way too old for this. He'll send somebody he trusts and there's only one person he'll trust enough for this."

"Who?"

"Who else? Bakaguru will send his daughter. Or, at least, his adopted daughter: 3."

"She's his adopted daughter?"

0 chuckled and a jolt of lightning shot through him again. "Bakaguru is one of those people who never had a family. He didn't have a wife, he didn't have children, I'm not even sure the old man had parents. But he was a mentor to 3, so much so that I think he thinks of her as his adopted daughter. Kind of like how 415 thinks she's the old 0's adopted daughter. It's more of a close bond than anything like a family."

The prodigal daughter arrived, just as 0 predicted, just not how he expected. He knew at once the silver form was Serena, but to see her in the uniform again was something he could have never foreseen.

"Serena," murmured May as the Silver Ranger walked up. "You look beautiful."

Serena nodded. "Your daughter said the same thing, May," she said, then turned to 0. "I've got something that belongs to you, Gold." She held it in her hands, the glittering Gold Ailed Morpher. "With this, you'll be the Gold Ranger. Put it on, quickly."

0 nodded and grabbed it. "Got it," he said. He tore off the fake morpher, though the false armor still remained. "How does it work?"

"Press the morphing trigger. It'll do everything else on its own."

0 nodded and pressed the button. Instantly, the jolts ceased. 0 felt warm and heavy as the bulky, true armor of the Gold Ranger clamped onto him. Aside from the aesthetic differences, the slight changes of color arrangement and the structure of the helmet, nothing seemed to have changed.

"I'm back," he hissed as his systems came online.

"So am I," said the voice in his ear. Pi.

"Good to hear you again, partner." He turned to May and whispered, "Stay here, no matter what happens. I'll come and get you after we've given a visit to Ame and the Snagem guy."

"Okay. Be careful, 0." Gently, she kissed the part of his helmet with the black mouth plate.

"You bet. 3, let's-"

Serena bonked him on the head. "I'm not 3 anymore, Gold. We're not part of PKM anymore. No need for numbers."

"Alright. Silver, let's go."

"Say that sexier."

"No. We're going." He started running, just regular running, without the assistance of Agility. He wanted to enjoy his new suit to the fullest. Serena caught up quickly, and both their uniforms shined in the slight moonlight from the sky above.

"Hey, Silver?"

She looked at him. "Yeah, Gold?"

"It's good to have you back, partner."

She giggled. "You always know how to say the corniest things in the manliest ways!" she squealed.

0 was quite thankful she didn't decide to leap on him right then and there, mostly because they were approaching the fight scene, and partially because he didn't want May getting the wrong idea.

The fight, for that was the only thing to describe what they were looking at, was the strangest thing 0 had ever seen. Standing fifteen feet tall, easily, was the Dark Onyx Ranger. It was screaming in rage, attempting for some reason to attack the red figure that was flying around it, obviously irritating it beyond normal levels of patience.

"Logan," 0 grumbled. "Always a clown."

In fact, Logan was doing his job so well that Ony had completely ignored the pink figure of Karin that was climbing around its body, damaging portions here and there with concentrated sonic bursts. It had also begun to completely forget that on the ground, the Dark Emerald Ranger was working to trip it up thanks to some chains and assistance from 415, who kept knocking at its pressure points.

"We should join the party," Serena suggested.

0 agreed. "Pi, download the Bolt Blade now."

It arrived in a flash of lightning, a download so fast it had to have come from inside his morpher. The Bolt Blade had changed. No longer was it a massive hunk of iron roughly 0's height. Now it was smaller, with a four foot long blade and a two-handed handle. It still retained its black surface and golden edges.

"This is the Bolt Blade's new Compact Mode," Pi explained. "Let me know when you want to use Heavy Mode."

"Thanks Pi, let's try this one on for size," 0 said and, with a shout, rushed into the fray.

Likewise, Serena opened communications to her Ranger Spirit. "Dewgong, I need the Frost Fans," she said. "Please."

"One moment, little Serena," said Dewgong, in a lovely voice. The Frost Fans appeared just as quickly as the Bolt Blade had. They looked tougher, with blades on the edges.

"Here I go!" Serena shouted as she followed 0.

The Gold Ranger smashed into the goliath Dark Onyx Ranger, using the lighter Bolt Blade to slash through the gems that made up its feet tendons. It crashed to the ground. "Attack the individual Dark Onyxes!" he ordered. "That's the reason it got so big!" How he knew this the Gold Ranger wasn't sure, but it seemed to make sense. The Dark Onyxes further away from the beast's chest were weaker as well, making it easy to damage.

But the Dark Onyx Ranger was unwilling to lose so easily and though it was primitive in mind its attack was still lethal. It screeched and kicked 0 full in the chest, sending the Gold Ranger crashing sideways into a container. He groaned, but found that he has sustained surprisingly little damage.

"Pi, we're going to need Cario Form," he said and reached for the blue ball on his belt.

"The Synchronization Drive has been updated. All you need to do is put the ball into the new morpher and Lu will do the rest."

"Gotcha," said 0, and he activated Cario Form. Like most of the new Ailed Morpher systems, the transformation was instantaneous. One moment 0 was poised for attack, the Bolt Blade gripped tightly in his hands, then in the next he was ready to play with the Claw Gauntlets. "Let's go!"

"Aye, sir," said Lu. "I'd go for the tendons and work my way up to the joints. Should keep him from doing that kick again."

"Paralysis couldn't hurt either," 0 agreed as he leapt forward. He smashed directly into the Dark Onyx Ranger's face and sent it flying on its back yet again. "Everyone join in!"

"Oooh yeah! Gang bang!" shouted Logan, as he swept down. Gem after gem was sliced through with the Sake Scissors while 0 focused on smashing Ony's face as many times as he felt necessary. "Everyone, let's get the fat guy! Who brought lube? This guy's not going down easy!"

"Cease, please," grumbled 415. For her first fight, she wasn't doing too badly. Not that anyone hadn't been expecting anything but outstanding. She hadn't figured out the Rescue Mode yet, but she was fighting well with her bare hands.

"I kinda like it," admitted Serena.

0 almost saw the grin that was probably positioned on Logan's face. "This is daily conversation for me, 415. Or, at least, for Karin and me. Ain't that right, honey?"

The only thing that kept Karin from killing him was that she was distracted with being gripped in Ony's left hand. Logan promptly severed the tendons in the aforementioned hand. She fell out and he caught her gracefully. After being rewarded by a slap on the head, both rangers tag teamed the rest of the arm.

Meanwhile, the Dark Emerald Ranger was in grips with Ame and the rest of the Rangerlings. Max roared as the hoards of Rangerlings struggled to hold him down, only to fail time and time again and be killed. All the while, Max continued a resilient march towards Ame. The green aura was starting to become visible again.

"You are the stray, aren't you?" Ame asked rhetorically. "There is nothing in the contract about leaving you alive… Still, you are probably a specimen that my employers would like to own." She snapped her fingers, exactly as someone would to a pet. "Come on, want to come live with me and my minions?"

The Dark Emerald Ranger responded by whipping one of its chains at her. It phased right through her and she sighed. "Too bad. You need to be put down." She clearly looked very reluctant to do it. "You are so inferior, you know that? If only you would evolve to something useful. I would scarcely need my powers to defeat something as weak as you."

The Dark Emerald Ranger snarled in rage and attacked.

The Silver Ranger brought down her weapons in full force. The bladed fans crashed through the gems that covered the Dark Onyx Ranger's joints. It screamed again, but it wasn't in a position to do anything. After all, it was on its back, with its limbs slowly being damaged. There was nowhere for it to possibly run.

0 climbed onto its chest, digging through what was left of the Dark Onyxes, and impaled the central one on its chest. It howled in pain as the surface cracked in the first blow and completely disintegrated with the second.

"Everyone move off it!" the Gold Ranger ordered, and none too soon! The beast began turning to dust in moments, and the other rangers jumped off as fast as they could. In seconds, it was reduced to nothing but Goza the Snagem Boss, wearing little to no clothes that only managed to cover his unmentionables. When Logan saw this, he began laughing to such an extent that he needed to be reminded via slaps from Karin to breathe.

"This is easily one of the best moments of my life," he giggled and pointed to a very embarrassed Goza. "Why do I never have a camera when I so very desperately need one?"

"Sh-Shut up!" Goza retorted back.

"Karin, please note the date and time we discovered that the Snagem dude is hung like a well-endowed paramecium."

"Logan, stop wasting time quipping and send Bakaguru a message. Let him know we're done here."

"Sir, yes sir!" shouted Logan to the Gold Ranger and snapped off a salute. It only took him moments for the untraceable signal in his suit to find Bakaguru. "Guru…? Yeah, we're done here. Probably gonna take off after… What?" Everyone gathered around him, but he asked for silence. "Got it. On our way back." He shut off communications and with a grim voice said, "We need to go back to PKM."

"Why?" asked 415.

"Bakaguru says that he's got Sarah safe, but he can't use the teleporter. It ran out of mojo, or something. Add in the fact that the rest of PKM is about to break into the lab to get Charon back, we have a major problem guys. Gotta go help him out."

"Couldn't he just morph?"

"Don't think so. The way he sounded, he morphs one more time he's going to go kaput. The big guy is not in the best of shape. We'd better get back, because unless someone feeds him a wonder bar or something, he's going down."

"Sarah…" growled 0. "If Charon touches her…"

Logan waved the remainder of his statement. "Gotcha, tough guy. Go grab May and we'll get going. You've got a motorcycle in your morpher too, right?"

"The 0 Cycle, yes."

"Good, because I don't think 415's got one. She can ride Max or something. I have one for me and Karin."

0 nodded, but 415 thought this was bad. "I am not riding the wild animal anywhere," she said definitively.

"He's not a wild animal, you just have to know how to get him to obey." 0 walked over to the Dark Emerald Ranger and said, "Max, we need you to transport Ranger Black. Can you keep up with a motorcycle?"

"_Galllla…Laaaaaaade_," it hissed.

"What did he say?" Logan asked.

"Said he could do it, as long as he could track the scent of where we're going." Then, the Gold Ranger paused. "Logan?"

"Yes, sunshine?"

"Where's Ame?"

Logan shrugged. "Ran off, I guess. She's kinda creepy like that."

"We'd better get going. Max, grab 415."

"You touch anything you're not supposed to, I will not rest until-" The remains of 415's threats were removed when the Dark Emerald Ranger growled and slung her over its shoulder.

"What about him?" Serena asked.

"PKM can handle him."

Logan and 0 revved their motorcycles. Logan and Karin took off and Serena and 0 went to grab May. The Dark Emerald Ranger jumped up onto the containers and followed briskly on foot, using its chains to propel itself at faster speeds. Once May sat down in front of 0 and Serena leaned in behind him, they tore off towards Bakaguru.

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Bakaguru sat at the computer, observing the structures around his quarantine protection. He had precious minutes, at most he had five. He shifted his weight to look down at Sarah. She too was gazing at the computer, though she of course had no idea what the complicated equations displayed on the screen meant. Bakaguru finished the last of his analysis and sat up from the chair.

"Sarah," he said, his voice a whisper, "come with me."

"What is it, Bakaguru?" she asked. Like most children her age, Bakaguru noticed that innocent look of wonder in her eyes.

"I have a last present for you, if you would like it."

"A last present?" Sarah sounded confused. "What do you mean, 'last present'? Are you going away, Bakaguru?"

"Maybe. That's why you need to have this, Sarah." He put his hand into his pocket and retrieved what looked like a blue watch. "Do you know what this is, Sarah?"

She looked it over for a moment then shook her head. "It looks like the watch Daddy wears, but I don't know what it does."

"That's okay, Sarah. This is an Ailed Morpher. It lets someone change into a ranger. Like Serena, like your father, like Logan, like 415, and like Karin."

"Oooh! Can I hold it?"

Bakaguru shook his head. "Not yet. You need to understand it before I can give it to you. And you need to know you can never wear it. Promise me that, Sarah."

"Why can't I wear it Bakaguru?" She definitely wanted to know that she knew it wasn't allowed.

"You do not have a Pokemon. Besides, the Ranger Blue System will not respond to you. You're too young to use it. No, what I need you to do Sarah is watch this. Protect it. Like I have."

"You were a ranger, right? Like Daddy?"

He nodded. "I was. Now, I don't have to be one anymore. With your father and his friends, I am the last of my generation hanging onto my morpher." He rubbed against the one on his wrist. "Gold is dead, Arthur retired. I'm the last one left.

"See, Sarah, we didn't know what we were making," he explained. "We just wanted to make something to help people. When you make a weapon, you take that chance. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "I think so."

"Gold passed what he had to your father, and eventually now to 415. They were like his children. He brought both of them to me, knowing before I did they would be rangers. In the same way Logan came to me. I saw the slacker, and not the hero within. His father was his way in, and he proved to be a worthy successor, just as 0 and 415 have."

"How did Miss Karin and Miss Serena become rangers?"

"Karin was on the insistence of Logan, now I see why." Bakaguru once again chuckled. "Serena was a wonderful accident. Like your uncle Max. She became the person I passed what I had. She lived for so long fighting on her own, I tried to help her so much. And now she won't need me. They will not need PKM anymore."

He handed her the morpher. "And now PKM won't need this anymore. Keep it safe, but never use it. Give it only when there is no other way, understand? This morpher is so powerful…it has all the secrets I decoded recorded inside it. Its operator will need to be someone strong, almost inhuman. But whoever they are, I trust you to keep it safe until its rightful owner comes."

She nodded and tucked the morpher into her clothes. "I promise, Bakaguru."

He patted her head. "Good girl, thank you. Now then…" He rose from where he had had to lower himself to see at her eye level and looked to the door. It would not hold much longer. "There is a special compartment underneath the computer. I need you to hide there, Sarah."

She followed him to the computer, where a few quick keystrokes caused the floor to open up beneath them. Sarah jumped in and Bakaguru closed the gate.

"Come back," she said.

He nodded. "I'll try."

He turned to Charon, who had grown silent in his little bubble. Feeling a little daring, Bakaguru removed the silence that barred Charon from speaking to the world.

"Any last thoughts, Charon?" Bakaguru asked. "How does it feel to be put to shame by the world's greatest otaku?"

"How do you think it will feel to be gunned down by people you have helped, trusted, and know you have to fight for your survival?" Charon retorted. "You won't be escaping this, Niwa. You will die today."

"If I am," Bakaguru murmured, "then I want an interesting death. I've sat behind a lab desk for so long, the time has come for me to be free already!" The door was just about to give…

He pressed down on the morpher's button. _"Master Mode, Online!"_

The armor clamped down on him again, it felt so familiar to him! He felt so at home inside the body he had spent so many years designing. He almost didn't notice the way that slowly, ever so slowly, it was draining his energy. He was no longer suitable for using it, he knew that. His physical prowess was barely enough to hold the gears and mechanisms inside the suit together and stand up.

The door began to open and the Master Ranger took a deep breath.

They poured in by the hundreds. The PKM Agents, all in full body gear and more than capable of fighting, swarmed over the Master Ranger like so many Pokemon scrambling over food. The Master Mode dashed through the crowd.

They fought a scientist, a mathematician, and a warrior whose reflexes, though dulled, were by no means gone. He spotted each blind spot that they presented and each angle each bullet would travel at. He avoided them all. He tried to lead them away, as far as he possibly could, from where Sarah was hiding. He would take no chances with her safety.

But they kept coming. And coming.

Eventually, he had to falter. Eventually, he did. The Master Ranger, pressed from all sides, was driven to the ground and the armor forcibly demorphed. Never had Bakaguru felt so weak. He groaned in pain as he was forced back to his feet, his morpher torn off of his wrist by

Charon was removed from the force field. Once again, the head of PKM was all smiles and he strode towards Bakaguru as if meeting an old friend for a golf game.

"Fancy a guess at how this story ends?" he asked Bakaguru, then turned to the nearest soldier. "Hand me your pistol, sir."

The agent looked surprised. "W-What, sir?"

"Never mind, I can get it." Charon reached for the boy's belt and pulled out a very sturdy, very deadly pistol. "Is it loaded?"

"W-Well, of course."

"Thank you. That will be all." Charon waited until the young man was quite a distance away before he pointed the gun at Bakaguru's chest. "Now, any idea how this ends, engineer?"

"Kill me, and the technology dies with me," he chuckled. "You'll never be able to recreate it."

"Never is a long time, otaku. Five years maybe, at most. The technology can be invented again. Better, and within my domains so I may decide who gets it. Not you. Never again."

"Then is there anything else, Charon?" Bakaguru asked. "I'm not going to beg my way out of this. No pleading, no wailing. That's what you like, and that's why you won't get it."

Charon undid the safety on the gun. "Last words?" he asked. His voice was so filled with malice, such absolute distain, that Bakaguru couldn't help but chuckle. Charon was so angry at him for not begging.

"Yes. I am happy I am free." And it was here that Bakaguru grinned a wild grin. "Now let me go see my friend."

Charon heard a shriek when he squeezed the trigger. He felt the bullet blast out of the gun and saw it smash into Bakaguru's chest. Blood gushed from the wound and burst like a fountain when Bakaguru's body slammed into the ground. Blood trickled from his mouth, his eyes were fading.

Someone was running through the room, Charon didn't see the little girl until she was right by Bakaguru's side.

"Bakaguru, no!"

Charon winced, her screech of agony was quite annoying. The little girl, Gold's girl…was crying. Tears were pouring down the little girl's face, and Charon smiled.

"…Gold…?"

Bakaguru wasn't quite dead, but he was certainly checking out.

"No, it's me, Sarah!" screamed the girl. "Don't die!"

"…Always wondered…what happens…" He didn't feel Sarah's hands clench his, nor did he hear her screams. "Glad…to see you…" He was having trouble breathing, part of the bullet had punctured his left lung. His eyesight was growing even fainter. "S-Sar-Sarah?"

"Bakaguru?"

"N-Need to t-tell l-last part."

"Isn't he dead yet?" yawned Charon. "It's been twenty seconds already."

Sarah ignored him. "What?"

"G-Go-Gold…" He swallowed his blood. "F-Fath-Father… P-Pro-Protect hi-him." He coughed, the blood came back up.

"Protect Daddy?"

Bakaguru did something with his head, it looked like a nod, but he couldn't quite finish it. Bakaguru sat, his eyes dimming.

The last image that burnt through his eyes was a man with golden eyes on a giant Pokemon, holding out his hand. Bakaguru lifted a shaking hand to take it.

And just like that, he died. His hand clattered to the floor.

Sarah shrieked. "No! No! No! No! No! Not Bakaguru! Not him!"

Charon blasted another bullet out. "Shut up and quite whining! Headaches aren't fun!" Sarah cowered, her body draped over the engineer's dead body. Her hands were stained with his blood. "Now, what do I do with you, little girl? You know, he probably died trying to keep you safe. What a wasted effort, eh?"

He lowered the gun and pointed it in between her eyes. She just gasped.

_ "Go!"_

A bolt of lightning surged through the room. In the moments in between Charon pulling the trigger and the bullet exploding from within the chamber, Sarah Birch vanished. The bullet slammed uselessly into Bakaguru's dead husk and propelled the body a few inches. A new stream of blood oozed out.

The Gold Ranger's body sparked. "Hello, Charon," he growled from beneath his helmet.

"Nick of time, huh?" Charon grumbled. "Too bad. Her clothes could do with a bright red stain."

The Gold Ranger set his daughter down. "Are you alright, Sarah?" he asked. His voice barely hid the rage that lurked beneath.

"He…he…he killed Bakaguru, Daddy!" She started crying again and the Gold Ranger hugged her.

"It'll be okay, honey. Daddy will take care of this. Don't worry, your mom's on the way too, Silver's bringing her in. And Uncle Max will protect you."

The Gold Ranger stood up and patted her head. Absolutely no one in the room dared to move, they were petrified by the sheer presence of power he commanded. This was not the time to be brave. This was the time to pray for one's life.

"You killed him?" the Gold Ranger asked Charon. It was a redundant question. Charon eagerly nodded. "Why?"

"He was outdated equipment. Just like you."

A sword appeared in 0's hand. "You just signed your death warrant, Charon. You will die. By my hand." He placed the blade on his shoulder and began walking forward. The others ran into the room and surrounded Sarah. 0 ignored the shriek of shock from Serena, he would deal with that later.

Now, though…now he wanted blood. His heart was numb with wrath.

Charon lifted the gun again, but with a crack of lightning 0 vanished before Charon could get the clear shot. The Gold Ranger reappeared behind the head of PKM and smashed his head with the blunt edge of the sword. Charon fell and a pool of blood trickled through his hair.

"Get up," 0 hissed. "You're not dead yet."

Charon tried to, honestly he did, but the Gold Ranger had perhaps struck too hard. Charon struggled to his feet, only to be kicked down again. A boot to the stomach sent all the air in his lungs bursting from his lips.

"I said get up!" ordered the Gold Ranger. "You killed someone, you little nothing! Take responsibility for it!" There was nothing but hatred in his voice, the utter satisfaction of dominating his enemy. He wanted Charon to pay…oh he would. "And you all did nothing." He looked out to the nameless, uninteresting, identical suits of combat armor worn by the agents.

"He was a good man and you let this lowlife kill him?" 0 roared, and punched Charon down again. A tooth fell out. Both Charon's eyes were purple.

A shot fired, from one of the nameless agents. It clipped 0 in his left shoulder and ricocheted into the wall. The Gold Ranger, wrath incarnate, found the agent foolish enough to do such a thing, and fired a bolt of lightning. The agent went down noiselessly, just a light clatter on the floor when his body hit it.

"Dark warrior," whispered Charon, hoarsely enough for 0 to hear but not understand.

0 grabbed Charon by the hair and lifted him up off the ground. "What, Charon?" he growled. "Want some last words of your own?"

Charon grinned through a bloody mouth. "N-No. D-Dodge this." He pointed his gun at May and fired.

The bullet never even reached May, it didn't even travel half the distance. 0 issued another crack of lightning and appeared in front of it. The bullet smashed harmlessly into his shoulder and ricocheted again into something, this time Bakaguru's work desk.

"Picked the wrong day to play chicken with someone who can outrun bullets."

Charon didn't care. "S-Surround me!" he shrieked. The agents obeyed blindly and Charon pressed some buttons on the computer. The teleporter began humming. He made a final dash with all his strength for the teleporter.

"S-So long, G-Golden Boy," he whispered, before he was gone.

0, Serena, and Logan roared and attempted to dash after him. But nothing changed the fact that Charon was gone and quite out of their reach.

"Trace him," 0 ordered Serena.

"I can't. He did something random with it, even he didn't know where he was going. It would take someone like…like…" 0 didn't see them, but he knew there were tears. "Bakaguru would know."

"What's the plan, team captain?" Logan asked 0.

He thought for a moment, then looked towards the hundreds of agents. "Guys, today is your lucky day. Get out, and don't come back until we leave. Do that and we won't kill you."

There was a unanimous response. In unison, all of the agents filed out and ran as far away from the deathtrap of six very angry rangers as they could. In a minute, only the rangers, the Birches, and Bakaguru's corpse remained.

"What do we do?" 415 asked. The hesitation in her voice betrayed her emotionless mask.

"We do what we were going to do," 0 decided. "Disperse. Return when the Dark Gems do. But we do it without the restrictions of PKM. We do it without their rules."

"How will we know when to meet?" Max asked, after demorphing.

"Silver, find Max something that can pick up transmissions. He's the only one without an Ailed Morpher." Serena did, and found just the thing in Bakaguru's desk. It was a tiny, hardly noticeable communicator. Max took it wordlessly. "Our morphers can communicate with each other on their own frequency. When the Dark Gems strike, I will make contact."

Each face in the group slowly nodded their heads. "Where do we go?" asked Serena.

"Far away. Somewhere they can't find us. They come after us, so hiding will keep them looking. Stay away from one another."

0 demorphed. The others followed his example. "Now, what do we do about this?" 0 asked. His voice was hard as he gestured at Bakaguru.

"Viking funeral?" suggested Logan.

"What?"

"Vikings, when they died. They got set on fire and set out on a boat. Really awesome way to go out." There were tears in his eyes, and his whole eyes were red. "He deserves it."

"He does. Silver, Karin, find something that makes fire. He had to have something."

It only took them a few minutes. Logan, Max, and 0 doused the room in the fluid and applied a hefty amount to Bakaguru himself. When they were done, the group gathered again.

"This will burn away Bakaguru's research, everything. No more rangers for PKM, no nothing. From now on, it's us."

"What do we call ourselves then?" asked Serena.

"How about the Power Rangers?" said Logan with what passed for a grin on his face.

"We're rangers," decided 0. "Just rangers."

And he set the spark. The room caught fire and the group dashed from the room. 0 was the last one out and, as he looked back one last time, he saw a smile on Bakaguru's face. His last thought must have been a happy one.

"Goodbye, old friend. Say hello to Old Gold for me."

Then he was gone.

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Ame watched as the Dark Onyx Ranger…no…Goza, lay dying. There was nothing she could do, the PKM Rangers had damaged him too severely. He couldn't talk anymore, something she was grateful for. She hoped his death would be soon. Dark Gem deaths were painful beyond imagining, and Goza had held on the longest she had ever seen.

Then, she saw them. The sight of planes headed in their direction. No doubt loaded with enough explosives to level the whole block of shipping containers.

"I need to go now," she told Goza. He looked up with a mixed look of horror and pain etched on his face. "My contract states that, if the mission fails and you are beyond saving, that I am to preserve myself. I will honor the contract." She reached into her coat to feel her Dark Gem.

She became ghostlike and Goza clawed at her, trying to get her to save him too, as she had before. But Ame just smiled sadly and shook her head. "No, I have enough power left to save one of us. And I am much more valuable than you." This did not stop him from pawing at the ground where her feet appeared to be. She just sighed.

"Goodbye, Ony. Let me know what's waiting for me, won't you?"

Then the bombs began dropping and Ame watched as fire blew straight through her and reduced Goza to dust. Irritated, Ame began to walk back home, wherever that was.

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**_...Now..._**

The Gold Ranger looked at the e-mail. "Open it," he ordered.

"Are you sure?" asked Pi, its voice uncertain.

He nodded. "Yes. I need to hear it."

The mail opened, just as 0 knew it would, to display Bakaguru's lively face. Bakaguru smiled wearily at him.

"Hello, Gold. If you're reading this…then you must have gotten the morpher safely. I hope Serena was able to get it to you in time. You're very difficult to replace, you know?"

Despite himself, 0 chuckled. Even in death Bakaguru was still the same. "I've recorded this in the event that you and the other successfully managed to escape from PKM. I can't be sure of what happened, but I hope it turned out for the best. I will try and make sure that Sarah is looked after until you get here."

"You did," 0 muttered.

"Anyways, with PKM in disrepair, I do hope you gave Charon a good beating, I am afraid I have probably either been incarcerated or killed. In either case, the task of leadership will fall to you, I am afraid. You are senior ranger. Make the right calls, try not to get everyone killed.

"One more thing: you all were not the only ones who escaped. Jessie, James, and Meowth have also flown the coop on my suggestion. They're building something, I just hope they finish it." The voice paused, as if Bakaguru was unsure of what to say next. "Gold, listen to me… They will come back. I know you know that. You must be ready.

"Encrypted into this message is information your ranger spirit will be able to use. It contains in it data for a new base: Ranger Downs. To prepare for the attack, you need a good headquarters. It will have everything my lab had, with some theories that I haven't even tested yet. Also…" Bakaguru chuckled. "You probably should have learned this a long time ago, but I've also included the recipe for your serum. Remember to take it regularly."

Finally, the transmission said: "Goodbye, my friend. May we meet again one day." Then the screen went blank.

"You okay, 0?"

The Gold Ranger nodded. "Yeah, Pi. Just give me a minute. I just need to collect myself before I go back to May and Sarah."

"Take all the time you need, 0. Remember, you're only human."

0 laughed. "More or less, right?"


	27. Morph 27

Hello all. Considering we just had a time skip, I figured it would be important to do a little recount of the ages of our protagonists (especially since we've added a few since the first chapter). Here are the ages:

**Agent 0/Ranger Gold:** 30

**May Birch:** 30

**Sarah Birch:** 7

**Max Birch/Dark Emerald Ranger:** 27

**Serena Brine/Ranger Silver:** 25

**Agent 415/Ranger Black:** (withheld)

**Brock Harrison:** 35

I also wanted to drop by a little warning letting you know this chapter does contain some **M**-ish material in the form of a non-explicit sexual scene. It's much more tame than the one in Morph 12, but I'm sure it's a scene many readers have been waiting for. Without further ado, let's continue...

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**Morph Twenty-Seven: One Year Gone**

Sarah Toby sped up as she rode along the dirt road.

She was seven now, it had been her birthday almost a week ago. Her father had gone into nearby Goldenrod City and gotten her a massive cake; her family was still trying to finish it every night since during dessert. She was hurrying home because it was almost past her curfew and her father normally worried when she got home in late. It didn't exactly matter if she was home late, the GPS in the necklace she was wearing would activate in ten minutes and her father would come get her.

But still… "Dad's so protective," she said. She could already see her house.

They lived in a quiet community just outside of Goldenrod City now. Thanks to backup identities that her father had created years ago for their family, they had managed to purchase a house in Aura Town. She could see it now, it was three floors high and built mostly out of wood. At least, it appeared that way from the outside. When her father had bought the house the first thing he had done was reinforce the inside with metal and protective shielding. The house, while cozy on the outside, was a fortress constructed out of junk metal from a nearby scrap yard. Its interior still had a homely appearance, but within its walls lay some of the most lethal defenses designed by man.

"Home sweet home," she said as she pulled up to the picket fence. Underneath her feet were more guns than an arms dealership. She walked across the yard and towards the front door. It was a simple, wooden door from the outside, but Sarah knew from watching her father install the machine inside it that it could zap someone with several thousand volts of electricity.

"Mom, I'm back!" she shouted when she got inside. Her mother was in the kitchen, as she always was at this hour, making dinner for her and Sarah. She was wearing a headband and smiled when she saw her daughter.

"Welcome home, Sarah," said May Toby. "Have fun biking today?"

She nodded. "Yep. I went over to the market to see the new toys that came out today. Think I can buy a video game thing?"

May shrugged. "Ask your father, he's downstairs working."

"On what?"

Again, May shrugged. "I think he's almost done rebuilding the teleporter. Now I think he's just going over the lesson plan for tomorrow's classes. Why don't you go tell him dinner's almost ready?"

Sarah smiled. "Okay, Mom." She walked through the kitchen and into the living room. Once there, she headed to a bookshelf and pulled one of the books, _The Harrison Guide to Better Pokemon Health_ by Dr. Brock Harrison, from the shelf. The bookshelf opened up and revealed a flight of stairs. Sarah wasn't quite sure exactly how her father had built the bookshelf, but it always seemed to open up when she pulled that book. She put the book back and descended down the stairs. The pathway closed up behind her.

The basement was what her mother called her father's workspace. Her father called it Ranger Downs, he said the name came from Bakaguru. Thinking of him again made her heart heavy, so she tried to smile when she saw her father.

To the rest of the world, he was Keean Toby. To her, he was the Gold Ranger.

His hair was messy, it always was for some reason. He had taken to wearing welder's goggles, so they covered his face most of the time. His face was still filled with youth, he was almost thirty, but had a kind of weariness to it. He told her it was because of the serum he had to take. She thought it was because of all the things he had had to do to protect Sarah and her mother.

He smiled when he noticed her, she could never sneak up on him. He could hear better than most people. "Cutting it a bit close today, huh, Sarah?" he asked. He looked up from his desk of papers. As always, when he saw her his face let up in a smile.

"Don't worry, Dad," she said. "I made curfew."

"Yes you did. How was your day?"

"Nothing special. Went to the market. Ooh, Mom said I had to ask you. I saw this really cool game when I was down at the toy store. It's this kind of video game thing you can play on the TV. Will you get one for me?"

Her father smiled. "Could have sworn you just had a birthday and you wanted your bike. Think you can wait another year for the game?"

"But it just came out! And it's so cool! Please?"

He laughed and patted her head. "Tell you what, princess: I'll think about it if you keep doing a good job in class, okay?"

"Awwwww…" Sarah appeared to be on the verge of pouting, but her father knew that Sarah never resorted to something like that. "How long?"

Her father glanced back at the papers. "Let's see…we started the term a month ago so…let's say another month until midterms? You keep doing a good job, I'll get you the game as a reward."

Her face brightened when she heard she only had to wait a month. "Okay, Dad. That's fine." She hugged him.

He chuckled. "Glad to hear it. Now, why'd you come down here? Your mother want me?"

"Mom wants you to know dinner's almost ready."

"Sure, I'll be up in a few minutes."

"Okay Dad." She kissed his cheek and leapt up the stairs. She pressed a button on the side of the entrance that opened up the bookshelf, after first checking a camera making sure no strangers were around, and left her father alone.

0 sighed. He was almost finished with tomorrow's lesson plan too. He put down his papers and pencil and stretched. Sitting at the desk was beginning to cramp him.

The equipment that surrounded him was decades ahead of its time. All of it was courtesy of the mind and talent of the late Bakaguru Niwa, whose designs had been simple enough for 0 to follow and assemble the parts for things like the teleporter, the hacking system, the police broadcast transmitter, and dozens of other pieces of technology that 0 would never have been able to figure out without the blueprints. Most of the equipment he didn't even know how to use. He'd have to wait for 415 or Serena, the brainy rangers, who could understand Bakaguru's designs beyond their simple construct.

"Bakaguru," muttered the Gold Ranger. He missed the engineer and could not help but think of him almost daily.

"You need to stop dwelling on his death, 0," said the voice in his ear. Pi was calm, but a little firm in its tone.

He nodded. "I know. It's just that sometimes there are scars that you don't want to heal," he said.

"You built everything he asked for, you're ready for when they come. Don't you think it's time you focused on something other than your work?" the Pikachu asked.

"I am. I'm making sure that Sarah's getting an education and there's money coming in. We can't rely on the money I hid with these identities forever."

"It's not that, 0."

"Then what?" 0 asked, confused.

"Your wife."

0 glanced at the chain on his neck and his hand drifted again to the ring on it. "What's wrong with me and May?"

"You've seemed distant."

"How?"

"I don't know," admitted the Pikachu. "It's just…you spend so much time either working down here in Ranger Downs or at the school upstairs. You rest on the couch, and May is always alone in her room."

"Are you saying…I should sleep with her?" At once, 0 felt uncomfortable discussing the subject with Pi. "I don't know, Pi."

"Don't you want to?"

"That's a redundant question, of course I want to. It's just that I don't know if she does. I'm still working on rebuilding this marriage with her. It'll take time."

"You've been living together for over a year. Shouldn't you make a move?"

"I'm just taking things slow. Nothing wrong with that."

"Just don't take things too slow. You could ruin your chances by being so cautious."

"Yeah, thanks Pi. Now come on, let's get to dinner before I get a pot thrown at me." 0 ascended the stairs from Ranger Downs, taking care to switch off the lights on his way out. The electric bill wasn't the reason, 0 had installed a generator of Bakaguru's design capable of supplying the entirety of the underground base with plenty of power. He just didn't want anyone who accidentally found it to have the advantage of sight.

He shut the bookshelf behind him and locked it with a small gadget he had built from Bakaguru's designs. Even the book wouldn't open the base now.

His wife…or ex-wife was probably the appropriate term, was setting the table in the dining room. Every day she did this, and every day 0 was just as astounded by her beauty even when she was exhausted from cooking. She smiled at him warmly as he sat down at the dinner table.

Each day, 0 felt a slight twinge of guilt that he could not enjoy his wife's cooking. Fortunately, May had evolved to nourish him and had taken up the art of brewing him beer for his meals. She hadn't quite gotten the flavor right, but 0 had never once dared complain due to the effort she was making.

0 drank his beer in silence while May debriefed Sarah about her day. May insisted on doing it, to be sure that nothing suspicious had happened when Sarah went into town.

"Anyone carrying a gun?" May asked as she took a bite of rice.

"Nope." Sarah had been taught by both her parents, mostly 0, the ways people concealed guns on their person and how to spot them. "Thought I saw a guy with a pistol, but it just turned out to be a water gun from the toy store." She continued devouring her way through her vegetables.

"Anyone odd-looking or new?" she asked. May had taken the time to have 0 photograph all the locals to make sure they could trace somebody new in the neighborhood.

"Nope. Oh, wait! I saw a few new people, but they had maps. They had backpacks too."

"Probably tourists here to see the shrine," muttered 0 as he took a sip. Aura Town had a spectacular shrine that often drew the attention of travelers looking to sightsee. "Were they asking for directions?"

"Uh-huh."

"Tourists. Dark Gems wouldn't speak to anyone."

May nodded thoughtfully. "Oh, 0, I almost forgot." She reached over to the counter and picked up what looked like a red envelope. "We got this in the mail today. No return address." She passed the letter over for his inspection. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it. It's just weird."

0 carefully looked over both sides of the envelope. On one side, written in scratchy pen, was the address of his house. No return address was listed. On the other side was nothing. 0 turned it over again and looked at the handwriting, something about it seemed familiar.

"What do you think it is?" May asked.

0 shrugged. "No idea." He shook the contents, judging from the sound there was a piece of paper and something else very, very flat, definitely heavier than a piece of paper. "Feels like a letter and maybe a picture or something."

"Should we open it?"

0 held up the Gold Morpher to the letter. "Pi, scan this. Make sure there's nothing funny inside."

A gold scanning bean exited the morpher and covered the entire surface of the envelope. "No explosives, chemicals, bacteria, or viruses. It's clean. No sign of a tracking device either."

"Okay. Sounds clean." 0 tore off the right side of the envelope and poured the contents out into his palm. The first was a picture, but 0 set that aside for a moment and opened the letter.

_ Dear 0, May, and Sarah too,_

_ Greetings! It is I, your humble friend Logan. I guess you're probably wondering how I got hold of your home address. To tell you the truth, I'd rather not say, but I can tell you nobody else knows it. I've already destroyed all the information Karin used to track you guys down._

_ I should probably cut to the chase, I can't have this letter be too long or it might get found. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Karin and I won't be coming for a while, if you call us. I have several reasons for doing this, like my love of quiet, my intense marathons with Karin, but none as serious as the picture I have included in this letter._

0 paused from the letter to glance at the photograph. It was a picture of Karin in a meadow. A very pregnant Karin wearing a wedding dress. Though she wasn't smiling, her eyes certainly looked quite happy. 0 passed the photo along the table to May and returned to the letter.

_ As you can see, we're not really in a position to be able to travel anywhere until after the baby is born and old enough to go with us. We will come when we can, but for now you'll have to do without us._

_ Got to go. Karin's pregnancy hormones are vicious._

_ Logan & Karin_

0 passed the letter to May, who gasped. "Wow, they actually got married!" she exclaimed.

"Who got married?" Sarah asked, helping herself to more rice.

"Logan and Karin," said 0. "Looks like they've got a baby on the way too."

"A baby!" Sarah squealed. "I'm so happy for them!"

The next day, 0 was rather unwillingly forced to go into Goldenrod. He disliked going to the big city, since Aura reminded him so much of Pallet Town. He had chosen Aura Town for his family to live for just that reason: it was quiet, for the most part. There were the occasional loud noises and tourists, but it was mostly a calm, peaceful place. The perfect place to raise Sarah, he thought. Cities were for young adults who hadn't started their lives or for people who simply couldn't afford to live anywhere else.

Because 0 had saved so much of his paycheck during his five year tenure with PKM, he had stowed most of it away in the alternate identity of Keean Toby. He had also devoted time into preserving the identity and making sure it was untraceable back to PKM. Finally, his hard work had paid off, and absolutely no one had thus far given him trouble.

After all, he thought with a smile, it wasn't as though he could use his legal name. That would have been far too noticeable and would have led the Dark Gems right to him. The alias of Keean Toby, aside from the Saffron City Pokemon Contest, was much less memorable and had in fact been ignored by humanity in general, who remembered the Contest as a terrible accident they would rather forget about.

With the money he had saved, he had not only managed to provide a house, job, and underground operations center for his family, he had also gotten a hold of a worn but sturdy truck he used to haul supplies to and from home. Well, the 0 Cycle was too noticeable and could hardly be counted on for bringing home groceries.

He waved to the neighbors, a couple named Frank and Alice, on the way down the road. He didn't know them well, as they did not have children enrolled at his school, but recognized their faces. They waved back and before long were in his rearview mirror.

0 lived far enough away from Goldenrod to make the trip lengthy, but it did not take too long. Thirty minutes later he was already being irritated by the loud noises of morning traffic. He sighed, and strummed his fingers on the wheel.

"I should just use Agility. Park somewhere and use Agility." He was even tempted to, and looked at the morpher on his wrist. He hadn't morphed in over a year, he hadn't had to. He would occasionally want to, certainly, but he couldn't. Morphing brought the risk of discovery, even using his skills could bring the Dark Gems to them.

"Don't be so impatient," said the Pikachu in his ear. "You're only two minutes away from the store."

He nodded. "Yeah, yeah." Two minutes later, he was pulling into the store just as Pi predicted. He shut off the engine and got out of the truck.

Two seconds later, there was an explosion.

"What was that?" he shouted, and ducked behind the truck. The blast had come from behind him and it had caught him by surprise and he couldn't help but shout out the word. What Legendary Pokemon had cursed him to have an endless affair with explosions? He started hearing screams in the streets and carefully looked out over the bed of the truck.

"I'm never gonna get a vacation," 0 grumbled.

The street wasn't in total disrepair, but he noticed that several cars had crashed into each other or had been hit with shrapnel. He couldn't see anyone that was too injured and focused his attention on the bombed building. It was one of those massive, twenty floors high banks with a shiny, glossy surface adoring its windows and walls.

"Pi, hack into the police broadcasts in the area," ordered the Gold Ranger. He did not want to interfere if he couldn't help it.

It did as he asked. "Police are en route, but actual help is far off. The traffic problems are making it hard for police to get here."

0 said, "What's the situation inside?"

"Bulletin reports that it's a bank robbery."

"Of course it is."

"The doors have been sealed to outsiders and there are twenty hostages counted," continued Pi. "There are five, maybe six robbers inside."

"What are the hostages' chances if we wait for Jenny and the police?"

"Minimal. The robbers seem hostile. Several hostages have already been wounded."

0 didn't have a choice. "Pi, hack into the city records and download the blueprints to the bank building. I'll need a way in if we're going to do this."

While Pi did that, the Gold Ranger began looking for a place to transform. He disregarded the phone booth standing only a few feet away from him and dashed down an abandoned alley. The bank robbery was attracting a crowd which was in turn giving him more freedom to move around.

"Okay, Pi, always wanted to try this out," he muttered and looked up the wall. He touched it and released a small amount of static electricity. The electrical field held and 0 found that he could stick his hand to the building and climb it. He mimicked the motion with his other hand and began crawling up the wall. "Check it out, I'm Ariados-Man."

Pi chuckled. "Download finished. Your best bet is to go in through one of the upper levels and avoid the attention of the robbers. From there, an Agility will take care of them quickly."

0 nodded. "Good. Jam the security cameras if the robbers haven't already done that."

"All cameras are disabled."

"Roger." 0 raised his morpher and hit the transformation button. Instantly, the golden hologram of a Poke Ball surrounded him, along with the bits and pieces of his armor. As the ball opened, the armor clamped down and fastened into place. The Gold Ranger looked down at the crowd.

It was good to be back in the suit.

"Pi, divert primary power to the legs. If we're making a big leap, I'd like not to hit the pavement." Pi complied with the order and within moments 0 was crouching and running. A second later he activated Agility for an instant and burst through the air, crashing through one the windows across the street. All the people below saw was a tiny glint of light and the smashing of a window, something easily attributed to the robbers in case questions were asked.

0 passed through the empty rows of cubicles, presumably it was before the hour most of the staff clocked in for work. Either that or somewhere there was an amazing escape route the others below didn't know about. He paused to look at one of the cameras and noticed it was indeed deactivated. Looks like the robbers aren't all that stupid, he thought. Still, they couldn't have counted on him being around.

"Let's do this. I've been restless."

"With you all the way," replied the Pikachu.

0 smiled. "_Go_!"

Time slowed down instantly. He looked at the gauge on his monitor, he had ten seconds of standard time, more than enough in Agility. "Bolt Blade, Compact Mode," he ordered. The weapon materialized instantly in his fingers and he squeezed around the handle.

He ran down the stairs, to the world nothing but a golden blur. The Gold Ranger analyzed his surroundings in nanoseconds.

The robbers were more or less huddled together near the hostages behind one of the teller desks. They were arguing, but 0 could not tell what about because their mouths moved too slowly. 0 dashed across the room and approached the one who seemed to be in charge. He was standing away from the others and appeared to be barking orders.

0 watched his expression change from one of greed to one of confusion as the Gold Ranger appeared in front of the robber and braced his sword. The electrical pulses of the robber's brain were fast enough to spot the blurring image of the ranger, but weren't quick enough to do anything. The robber felt his body tossed across the room with one sword swing. The gun broke apart and the robber smashed against the wall.

"Good thing I used the blunt side," 0 muttered. He wasn't here to kill them, they were ordinary robbers. Jail could hold them. He turned to the other five.

The ten seconds ended and his speed returned to normal. As he emerged in the real world, the other robbers in unison pointed their guns at him and panicked.

"What happened to Jake?" shouted one of them in a frightfully scared voice. 0 focused his attention on this one.

"Who are you?" shouted another one. 0 shifted his visor.

"Pi, we have enough for another charge?" he asked.

"We do now."

0 nodded. "_Go_!" he shouted again, and the world slowed down. He ran forward as bullets burst towards him. Each time they were too slow, and he dodged them with reflexes that had lain dormant for over a year. He spun and flipped towards the group of five and smashed into the first one with his fist. Again, all the time the robber had was enough time within the first second to display a frightened expression in his eyes.

The robber smashed into the teller's desk and stayed down. He had nine seconds left.

The next robber he dodged another bullet from and bent low, delivering a sweeping kick that sent him flying off his feet. 0 then kicked him with an upward strike, sending the boy flying vertically. The third robber meant a similar fate, only 0 used a roundhouse kick to toss the third one directly in the line of fire of the second. Both of them collided in midair and began falling to the ground. 0 heard the slow loud shrieks of pain and ignored them.

"Six seconds left," he said. The timer was beginning to wane and he wouldn't be caught again.

The last two were guarding a large group of hostages and they were quite frightened by what they saw to be 0: a golden blur that was systematically obliterating their friends. Each one was firing wildly and 0 brought up the Bolt Blade.

"Heavy Mode!" he ordered. The blade expanded. elongated immediately, and 0 put it as a barrier between himself and them to have the bullets bounce away as he advanced. Halfway through the charge he heard a scream and looked up to see one of the bullets had managed to pierce through a robber's shoulder after it ricocheted. Only one more left.

He swung the sword like a baseball bat and cracked the last robber with the blunt edge of the sword. He watched as the body became a rag doll and bounced into the wall.

"0, we have three seconds left. Time to go."

"Roger." 0 looked at the freed hostages once, their speedy nervous systems were quick enough for them to change their expressions from fearful to liberated in the instant, and he dashed off through the door and was back in the abandoned alley before the Agility timed out. "Demorph."

The armor unclamped and faded into the digitization inside his morpher. The disguise of Keean Toby remained.

"Think anyone saw us?"

"Doubt it. We were only visible for that brief time. Chances are good that will be dismissed when they are questioned by the police."

0 grinned. "Good. Guess we're in the clear."

He heard a chuckle in his ear. "That was fun," said the Pikachu.

"It was indeed. Now let's see about grabbing those things May wanted."

The Gold Ranger walked calmly past the rapidly growing crowd of people and towards the store. It wasn't quite as crowded as it should have been, thanks to everyone having gone outside, so it only took him a few minutes to buy everything he needed and get out.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

The Gold Ranger rested on the couch.

He never slept, his dependence on the serum saw to that. Despite the fact that he would probably not have the nightmare if he were to fall asleep, there was always that chance that he would never wake up as a result of overusing the drug. So each night he either worked or, like tonight, recharged his body's battery and thought.

Sarah had long ago gone to bed and May was still in the kitchen finishing up the dishes. He had offered to help, but like always he was rebuked. He saved the world, she had said. The least she could do was the dishes.

A few minutes later she came into the living room. "Well, that's the last of them. I'm going to bed."

0 looked up from the couch. "Sure thing. Good night."

She lingered for a moment, then walked up the stairs. A few minutes later 0 heard her light click off and he waited a few moments before sighing.

"What's wrong, 0?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, Pi. Is something wrong with May?"

"What do you mean?"

0 folded his arms across his chest. "Well, it's just that lately she's been hanging out later and later. Do you think she's worried about something?"

"Like I said before, maybe she just wants some…physical contact."

"Hmmm…" 0 tried to wrap his mind around the thought of touching May again. He wanted nothing more, well, okay, maybe he wanted their safety a little more. "But what if she doesn't?"

"She's been living with you for over a year. I don't think she's doing it because she needs to split the rent."

"But still, I shouldn't force myself on her like that."

"Nobody said you had to. But start with some wine, maybe a moonlit night, see what happens. If you really want to repair this relationship then you need to repair all of it. You're back in their lives and you're a father to Sarah, yeah, but you need to be a husband to May too. Don't forget that."

"Yeah, I know. But I was such a bad husband. What if I make the same mistakes?"

"You only made those mistakes to protect them from PKM and the enemies you've made. You're not a part of PKM anymore and your enemies can't find you here. Live a little, 0."

He chuckled. "Guess you've got a point there, Pi," he said. "I suppose tomorrow we can try and-"

_ BOOM!_

He groaned. "Can something not blow up for five minutes?" he roared and ran to the window.

"What is it?"

0 peered through the window. He saw something that looked like a fireball shooting through the sky…right next door. "Oh no, Frank and Alice!" It was their house! 0 wasted no time and ran outside. Aura Town didn't have a fire department, he needed to do something.

"0, what are you doing?" Pi shouted.

"They could still be trapped inside!" he said. He couldn't see anyone outside the house and, when he neared it, he could swear he saw someone moving on the inside. "Someone's in there!"

"Wait for the fire department!"

"No time! Call them, but I'm going in now!" 0 focused, Agility was harder to use in civilian form with the Ailed Morpher, but he managed to pull it off. He burst through the house before anyone had any time to see him. He listened to Pi make the phone call to Jenny as he moved through the house.

The flames were slower than they would be in real time, which was the only way 0 was able to get through without a single burn. He headed upstairs, where he thought he saw movement.

"No," he whispered, as he entered Frank and Alice's bedroom.

Frank was lying on the ground, some of his clothes were already burning off from a few stray sparks. His mouth was open, as if he had been screaming, and his face was constricted with terror. His entire body had entered rigor mortis already and was curled into some sort of disfigured ball.

Right by his side was Alice. Her face was simply melting but she too had the signs of some sort of terrible anguish she had suffered before she had died. Her hair was burnt off, and the fire was eating at her twisted body. 0 tried not to be sick, but his stomach churned when he was forced to see the cause behind their suffering.

"Hello, Ranger Gold," whispered a voice he knew all too well.

Ame sat calmly in the wicker chair, watching everything burn around her. 0 instinctively touched his morpher, but she held up her hand. "Relax, Ranger Gold. My purpose tonight is not to fight you."

"Really?" There was malice behind his voice, malice he could barely contain to converse. "What do you think you're doing?"

She shrugged. "Getting your attention. Looks like it worked." She noticed he was looking at her like one might look at something pure evil and chuckled. "Worry not, dear Frank and Alice were dead long before the fire. I told them, you know, who I was here to get the attention of. Before they died they cursed your name over and over again."

0 growled. "I will kill you, Ame. I swear I-"

"Cease your dramatics, Ranger Gold. After all, I already said it is not in my contract to fight you now. I am here as a disclaimer."

"A what?"

Neither of them seemed aware that a fire was burning down everything around them. All 0 cared about was smashing her head open. What Ame cared about was apparently not fighting.

"We checked amateur video taken today in front of a bank which revealed a golden blur. Further investigation revealed you lived here. We are going to be sending two friends to hunt you down and kill you."

"Two Dark Gems…who?"

She shrugged. "You do not need to know yet. What is part of my contract is to tell you that we are giving you a two week grace period in which to summon your troops. We want all of you in one area."

"What if I say no?"

"Then you face two Dark Gem Rangers alone. This will ensure your death. Sap was but a taste and Ony was a failed experiment. Other members of our family are much, much stronger. Do not for an instant assume you are even capable of combating them on your own at your present level."

0 was still wary. "What's stopping you from killing me right now?"

She chuckled. "My contract does not specify that you need to know that information, Ranger Gold. Consider yourself lucky we are giving you the time to even mount a counterattack. Farewell."

And just like that, she vanished.

0 clenched his fists and bit his lip. "I will kill her, I swear I will."

"We need to get out of here. I think the fire department is en route as we speak. They'll find us."

"Activate Agility for the maximum allowed demorphed. We need to call the others."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"Turn it on, Pi."

The Gold Ranger stood alone in Ranger Downs, as he always did. He approached a large computer terminal on the wall next to the teleporter. He pressed one of the buttons and the machine came to life. Pi's face came on the screen and 0 manned the keyboard.

"Are you sure you want to call them back?" it asked him, just to be sure. "Ame might have been bluffing, they might give us some time to escape."

0 shook his head. "No, Pi, you know them just as well as I do. Escaping isn't an option. They'll come for us. The only question is if we do it on their terms or ours. We have two weeks, Ame said that was the schedule. We'd better not waste it. Switch it on."

The terminal's screen activated. 0 had to wait for the majority of the Ranger Downs computer to whirl to life, but it finished uploading within a minute. Pi's face was uploaded to the screen.

"Are you sure about this?" Pi asked once more.

He nodded. "I am. Initiate the signal and prepare for transmission."

The computer started up the signal. "Waiting for recording, Gold."

0 spoke very clearly to the computer. "Rangers, this is Ranger Gold. We have a confirmed sighting of the Dark Gems and a time limit of two weeks from the transmission of this message to assemble. Those of you who can come, come. Coordinates are being sent with this message, with the designated meeting place of Aura Town outside of Goldenrod City in Johto. Look for the cover ID you are familiar with. Get here as fast as possible, details will be relayed then. Gold, over and out."

He finished and nodded to Pi. "Message sent," reported the Pokemon. "You should get some rest."

"I don't sleep."

"Then lie on the couch and recharge. Think about things. You look bad, 0."

"What's going on?"

The Gold Ranger did not turn around, not immediately. He stood with his back facing her, his attention on the computer. "May," he said. "I thought you'd be asleep."

"I heard the sirens outside…what happened, 0?" She took a few steps towards him and touched his shoulder. "Tell me. I'm your wife."

He didn't smile when he turned around. "There was a fire next door. I ran over to try to help, there isn't a close enough fire department. When I got inside, I saw Ame there, waiting for me."

May nodded and gestured to his chair. "Why don't you take a seat, you look tired." It was true, his body looked like it was ready to give. Despite that, he didn't sit.

"I'm not tired. The serum keeps me awake."

"I meant mentally, dear." He could not refuse her, and she gently guided him to the chair and sat him down. He cupped his face in her hands. "Go on. Tell me everything."

He did. He told her how he'd found Ame waiting there for him. He told her about how she'd killed the people down the street, and even that she had given him two weeks before the fight started again. When he finished he felt exhausted, like he'd run a hundred miles. His face was still sweaty.

"Did you call everyone?" she asked and looked at the computer.

He nodded. "Max, Silver, and 415. I sent a separate signal for Logan and Karin, for when their child is born and they can travel. But that's still four rangers, against whatever the Dark Gems are going to bring." He searched her eyes, hunting for an answer. "Do you think it'll be enough? To fight them and save our family?"

"I don't know, 0, but I trust you." And she kissed him.

When their lips parted, he still tasted her on his lips. "I just wish I knew what was coming. I-I wish I wasn't in charge. If only Bakaguru was still here, he'd make twice the leader I am."

"Don't say that. Bakaguru left you in charge because he believed in you. Just like Sarah and I do." She touched his shoulder again. Through his shirt, he could feel the soft fingers of her left hand.

"May…" He lowered his face and looked at his shoes. "Thank you." He wanted to say so much more, but he didn't. Somehow, he couldn't form the words in his mouth. He just lifted his hand to hers and squeezed her fingers. He felt her ring.

She answered him with another kiss, deeper this time. The Gold Ranger felt the mood slowly change, there was a hunger behind May's touch that he recognized.

They parted, 0 felt her hands reaching for the buttons on his shirt. "What are you doing?" he asked hazily.

"What do you think?" she asked, a slight change of tone in her voice. It was slightly more feral. There was urgency too.

"May." His voice was losing resistance. "Are you sure?"

She looked at him with an almost frightening look. "I've been waiting for four years. The day after you left, all I wanted was your arms around me." She didn't even waste time with the last two buttons and ripped off the rest of the shirt.

"But now?" It hardly seemed like the perfect time.

"0. Stop thinking."

He followed the order to the level.

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"May?" he asked. He himself felt hazy, tired, like he hadn't been in years.

The voice came a moment later. "Yes?"

"You alright?"

"Oh…yes," she whispered, and smiled despite herself. "Yes, I think I'm fine."

"Okay." Carefully, 0 held her in his arms. He never wanted to let her go.

"You haven't changed at all."

"I haven't?" Somehow that rang false. "What about the jolt?"

She giggled. "That's not new…just a little different. Besides, you were always an animal in bed." She cuddled next to him and held him close.

0 chuckled. "Hey, remember our first time?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "You were so clumsy."

"I was clumsy? We were in a hurry. Our friends were only out for two hours."

"And you were so shy we started with thirty minutes left. It took me forever to get your pants off."

"I wanted to respect you. I didn't want to do anything to you that you didn't want to do."

"How could the world's best trainer and the most powerful ranger in PKM have ever been so silly?" She found this adorable and snuggled closer. "I never loved anybody but you. I wanted you to be my first."

They sat in silence for a while, each engrossed with the other. But they never stopped touching one another, not even when 0 rose from the chair and, taking May gingerly into his arms, carried her upstairs to their bedroom.

The last thing she remembered was the strong embrace of his arms, before the eclipse of sleep overcame her.


	28. Morph 28

**Morph Twenty-Eight: Welcome to Ranger Downs**

In the northern villages of Snowpeak, there is virtually no civilization.

Beyond the city, further north than most people care to venture, was a man standing in the middle of a snowy forest. He wore little protection against the elements, his chest was bare and his pants were insolated only as far as they would not grow damp from the snow that covered him. His boots were of a similar substance, they would not cling to the snow or get wet.

On the man's neck was a chain which had a bright emerald glittering from it.

Max Birch glanced towards the eastern sky, the sun was not quite up yet. No matter, he thought. He was almost finished with his morning training, he just needed a quick reflex test to ensure he was still fighting fit.

He had been in the mountains, living with the villagers, for over a year. They were kind and treated him well, mostly because he protected them from the wild Pokemon that would occasionally attack the village. It was for this reason he was standing with his back to the small, sleepy village. If any of the massive Pokemon he normally faced were about, they normally attacked at this time, just before everyone rose from sleep.

"Come on," whispered the man. His hand strayed to the emerald on his neck and he touched its surface. In the year that had past he had grown fond of the precious evil gem and the gem had grown fond of him. Now there was little they could not accomplish together.

Patience, whispered the gem in his mind, they were not far away.

The first Mamoswine emerged two minutes later and Max bared his teeth. He had not morphed, he did not believe there would be a need to. Gradually over the year he had learned to fight without the aid of the transformation that overtook his mind. It bellowed at him, as the Mamoswine often did when they saw him.

Max just growled right back.

It was much bigger than a regular Mamoswine, this one was at least ten feet tall. Max placed his hands on the belt he wore and retrieved two Poke Balls. "Go," he ordered, "Grovyle and Mightyena!" He tossed both into the air and they exploded, revealing a green lizard and a wild dog. He caught both his Poke Balls and returned them to his belt.

The two Pokemon stood just in front of their trainer, awaiting orders as expected. They were already analyzing the enemy in front of them. Mightyena bared its fangs, eager for the flank meat of the Mamoswine. Grovyle merely waited calmly, its eyes looking for any weak spots on the beast's body.

"Okay, you guys know the drill," said Max. "Take it down fast and be on alert for any others. Grovyle, watch out for the Blizzard attack. Mightyena, Bite the hell out of them. Understood?" Mightyena barked its reply, while Grovyle simply nodded. "Good. Let's go when it approaches the marker."

The marker, a specific distance that Max allowed the Mamoswine to remain at before he attacked, was located roughly one hundred feet away from where he was standing. It was marked by a few of the last trees of the surrounding forest, and after a few steps the big lummox Pokemon had indeed surpassed it. Time to go to work, thought Max.

He reared and charged for the beast with his Pokemon in tow.

His Pokemon dashed ahead of him while Max found the perfect spot to hold his ground. This was, after all, only the first one of the day, and he rarely got a chance to go all out on a single target. The Mamoswine trumpeted its approach and its deadly tusks glinted in the sunlight. Max took in a deep breath, pacing himself.

When the tusks got close enough Max grabbed them. Each muscle in his body strained as he forced the beast to halt with only the power of his hands. The beast itself was surprised, and its eyes opened wider when Max used its confusion to throw it off balance and topple it to the ground with a simple jerk of his arms.

"Now!" he shouted. Grovyle jumped up and smashed into Mamoswine with a full barrage of Bullet Seed. The beast groaned as its vital joints were blasted again and again. It tried hard to get back up but Mightyena was on top of it, forcing it to struggle in vain to regain its balance.

Max walked up and drew back his fist. A second later it smashed against the swine's face, right between its eyes. Its mind reeled and it was conscious no more.

Max turned to his team. "Good work." He heard a rumbling in a distance. "We'd better get ready. Sounds like the herd's on its way."

To handle the herd of Mamoswine, morphing would be required. One or two he could handle with his Pokemon, but a herd of ten would require aid from the Dark Emerald itself.

He turned to his Pokemon. "Okay, guys, let's try out that new fusion trick we've been working on."

"_Grov_…" murmured his Grovyle with approval. Mightyena signaled its willingness through a bark and the wagging of its tail.

Max felt the chains slink around his arm, across his shoulder, and down his other arm. The Dark Emerald was eager to please, and Max was eager to fight. He pressed the gem into his flesh.

_ "Dark Gem Ignite!"_

The man exploded in an emerald fire, and out of the Gallade's shade emerged the Dark Emerald Ranger. His Pokemon surrounded him, ensuring he was adapting to the transformation and could control himself. After a few seconds of intensive breathing, the monster relaxed and looked to his Pokemon. They both nodded.

The ranger released his chains at the urging of the Dark Emerald. They wrapped around both Grovyle and Mightyena, slowly bonding with their bodies. Eventually both Pokemon flashed green and seemed to disappear into the chains, which returned to their normal length around the monster's arms.

Suddenly the monster grunted as if in pain. Its hands began convulsing, changing, transforming. The fingers melded together and grew, shifting into something completely alien. For the right hand, a set of vicious teeth emerged, followed by the face of a Mightyena. It snapped at the air while, on the left, a Grovyle's head emerged, nipping at the air just as the Mightyena head was. Each head had a set of dimly lit green eyes.

The Dark Emerald Ranger seemed to laugh in his strange, Gallade tongue, then focused his attention on the onslaught of enemies headed his way. There were twelve Mamoswine, all intent on stampeding through the village.

He crouched low and raised his left arm, pointing the Grovyle's face at the first few beasts. They would not remain standing long enough to even get to him.

Bullet Seed ripped out of the head and smashed through the trees and Mamoswine. Unlike Grovyle's regular attack, it was reinforced by the Dark Emerald, and blasted out with the speed and strength of armor piercing machine gun rounds. He heard their screams as they faltered and fell. The five that managed to make it through surrounded him, intent on ending the battle with his head on their tusks.

The leader, the one with the biggest tusks, roared to the others. The Dark Emerald Ranger's only response was to lift the Mightyena head over his head and open the snapping jaws wide.

Just as they charged, the ranger fired a Dark Impulse. It struck each Mamoswine with a dark purple ring of energy and they flinched, giving him just enough time to raise the Grovyle head again and fire Bullet Seed a second time. With the close range, it did not take him long to clear the field of all the beasts. Each of them fell.

The Dark Emerald Ranger waited. Eventually the beasts rose, but seeing him decided to take a different route in their migration. Beaten and disgraced, they would never come back to the village, lest they face him. Only one of them looked back to him, but the Grovyle face was trained on it and the beast charged away before its pride could be wounded again.

When the sun set, the monster released his Pokemon from his hands. Grovyle and Mightyena scratched themselves as they waited for their trainer to demorph. Max Birch emerged from the inside of the creature, utterly exhausted. Keeping up the transformation for hours was tough work, but he was getting used to it. Sometimes he was even in control, and he always remembered the fights even when he wasn't. He was beginning to get a better sense of partnership with his Dark Gem, something he and the gem were quite happy about.

He turned to his Pokemon. "Good work," he said and held up his Poke Balls. The Pokemon vanished in two flashes of red light.

He put the balls away and grinned. "Who knew that the Dark Emerald had such an awesome skill?" he wondered aloud. All Dark Gems were, on some level, capable of taking in foreign material and utilizing it. That was how they absorbed Pokemon souls and activated the ranger form that was Max's Chained Form. But to actually temporarily absorb Pokemon, and bring them out safely when finished, that was an entirely different thing. Came in handy though, but he never seemed to be able to use it on Pokemon he didn't own.

"Guess it's a friendship-slash-trust thing," he said. After all, the Dark Emerald was based on his dearest Pokemon, Gallade, it made sense that the only Pokemon he could absorb were ones he had an emotional attachment to. "I wonder what's for dinner tonight…" Normally it was something salty, but he never complained. He was being fed and clothed and housed for free.

Well, not exactly free…Max thought fondly of who was waiting for him and the Dark Emerald whispered hungrily in the night. Already the sun had waned and above him he could see the beginnings of twilight forming.

Aisha was at the stove, exactly as he predicted, cooking salted pork and what vegetables had been saved for the winter months. Max could bet money it was potatoes, those always seemed to do the best in the village during this time. He could see little of her because she always wore a massive amount of clothing, but knew from the months he had been in the village exactly what was hiding underneath.

He closed the door to the house behind him and walked up behind her, nuzzling her ear. "Back so soon?" she asked, in a voice that was as sweet as honey. He found himself tangled in her long, raven-black hair as she turned to face him with a smile. She kissed his nose. "My little monster, did you get rid of the herd?"

He nodded nonchalantly. "Wasn't too much trouble."

"For us it is," she said. "You do the work of twenty men at this time of year. It's saved us so much. There's no way we could repay you."

He grinned. "Oh, I can think of a few ways. And only two of them involve us with clothes on."

She grinned right back. "How many involve us without clothes?"

He thought for a moment. "About a hundred and thirty-five."

She laughed and said, "My, someone has a vivid imagination. We'd better wait for dinner though, I don't want the food to burn."

Max seemed to disagree. "True, Aisha, but I can always multitask."

"Max, I think you'd better be patient. Sit down and watch me cook, I promise waiting has its virtues too."

Max did wait, and found he did not have to for long to find out what exactly those virtues were.

It was not until several hours later, almost near the brink of day, that Max awoke. His Dark Emerald often told him to do so, not wanting to miss a moment that could have been spent fighting lying in bed with Aisha. But this time the wakeup was different, like the Dark Emerald was expecting something else, something sinister.

He reached for the gem instantly, but found he didn't need it. It was the communicator, the one 0 and the others had given to him, that was flashing urgently. Using as much care as possible not to wake the sleeping Aisha, Max reached over to the bedside table and put it to his ear.

He listened to the message and his eyes widened.

He didn't even think of waiting. He got out of bed as quietly as he could and found his clothes. Most of them were not built for the cold but that wouldn't be a problem. Not for him, anyway. They were the very clothes he had been wearing the night they had left from PKM, so they looked a lot like the PKM Ranger civilian uniform, only with a green tint. 415 had said something about him not being a real ranger, so he didn't get a real outfit.

He put on the jacket and rubbed his brows. Now came the difficult part.

"You have to go, don't you?" He looked up, Aisha was staring at him. Her eyes weren't angry, or sad, but somewhat depressed. He nodded. "You're needed for something else…"

"My friends need me again," he explained. "I need to help them." He was about to say more, but Aisha hushed him and walked over. She covered herself with blankets from their bed.

"Take me with you," she said.

He shook his head. "I can't do that, Aisha. You know I can't. These people I have to fight, they kill the people my friends and I care about. I can't put you in that kind of danger. I'm sorry."

Reluctantly, she nodded her head. "Yes, I know," she murmured and hugged him. "I just…wanted to try anyway."

Max lifted her chin with a slight touch of his hand. "Aisha, I can't thank you enough for taking something like me in. Just remember that, okay?"

"'Something like you'? Max, you're a person, just like anyone else. Only you're a person who is the savior of our village. You're a hero, Max."

Max smiled, remembering the time he and Serena had saved Sarah, the first night he had considered himself a hero. "Thanks, Aisha. For everything." He put his glasses on and pushed them up to the bridge of his nose.

He grabbed his bag, which contained all his earthly possessions, and walked out the door. Aisha watched him go, and only when he was out of sight did she permit a single tear to fall from her eye.

"I hope one day you find someone who can tame you, you wild beast," she whispered to the wind.

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Serena Brine tossed herself onto the other side of the bed.

Her partner, a young gardener she had seduced from the hotel staff, merely grinned widely and chuckled. His entire body was drenched with sweat and seemed to gleam in the glow of the afternoon sun. He continued to gaze upon her perfect, sensuous form.

"That was lovely," he whispered and nuzzled next to her. "I can barely move."

She nodded. "Yes, I noticed." She glanced at the clock, it was quite late. "But I have dinner reservations, you're going to need to leave."

He nodded back and got dressed. "Of course, but let me know when you want to play again." She could still hear him laughing when he closed the door behind him.

She groaned. "Isn't there a single man on this planet who can satisfy me?" she wondered aloud. She got up and headed for the shower. "That idiot was at it for hours, what's wrong with men these days? Once they're done they think you are too." She tried hard to vigorously scrub away the last two hours of her life, it took some time but she was finally able to pull it off.

She took it back, there was one man capable of doing the job. She smiled, it had been over a year since she'd seen him. When they'd all split up he had stowed away with his ex-wife and daughter somewhere, all her efforts to find him had yielded nothing. She blushed when she thought back on their adventures together, especially the one at the hot spring, one of the few memories even capable of enticing desire in her mind. She'd been thinking about 0 the entire time she'd been with the gardener, it was the only thing that had got her through his mediocre performance.

She toweled off and got dressed. She wasn't jealous of May anymore, and she wasn't in love with him either. They had a family, which took precedence over her. But she had a partnership with him, and that was a big part of 0's life too. They had saved each other in battle over and over again. That was something May would never have with him.

She giggled as she did her hair. Once again, she looked the splitting image of a princess. Out of habit she placed her com-link in her ear. "Dewgong," she said, "how long do I have to get to the restaurant?"

The voice in her ear said, "About twenty minutes, little Serena. It shouldn't take you more than ten to get there, especially if you go by taxi."

She nodded. "Thank you, Dewgong." She checked herself one last time in the mirror before pronouncing herself perfect one again and walked down the hallway to the elevator. She had insisted on a room at one of the higher floors, so she could have a breathtaking view. She arrived in the main lobby a minute later, where all the males within viewing distance ignored their wives, girlfriends, and work to stare at her.

She was able to hail a taxi in moments, thanks to the glitter of her silver dress, and was at the restaurant in five minutes. She stepped out of the taxi and, her high heels clattering with each step, entered the restaurant for a truly magnificent meal. While it was true that she wasn't quite rich, neither was she very poor. The money she had saved up from her time as a ranger in PKM, plus her family's inheritance, was more than enough for Savannah Todd, her new identity. The only thing missing was the perfect eye candy draped around her waist. Preferably a big piece of Orre hunk with the ability to summon golden spandex.

She was shown to her table by a gentleman who was a little too eager to please. He was a nice looking young man, maybe five years younger than she was, but definitely not her type. He wasn't seasoned enough. He took a bit too much time handing her the menu.

"Thank you," she said.

She spent the remainder of the evening in blissful silence, simply enjoying the view of Mikan Island's gorgeous starry night. The food was always excellent here, and it certainly was that night. It took her an hour to finish her meal, she wanted to savor the wine, the fruit, the meat… When at last she finished and walked out, she felt satisfied in a way that idiotic gardener would never be able to make anyone feel.

She was just about to hail a taxi when, from behind her, she felt someone grab her. She tried to scream, but her cries were muffled by the hand that clamped over her face. Before she knew what was going on, she was in an alley with four men, not including the one who grabbed her.

"Good find," whispered one of the men. Serena noticed that all of them were wearing black hoods.

She groaned. Why couldn't she ever have a nice vacation?

"Bend her over, and keep that knife on her throat." Serena felt something cool and sharp against her neck.

_ Okay, boys. Let's see if you're man enough to handle me._ Serena flexed the lithe but strong muscles in her arms and twisted out of the first man's grip. She heard something break, followed by soft weeping. The body fell behind her and Serena turned to the remaining three, who seemed rather dumbfounded.

"Come on, boys," she cooed softly and cracked her knuckles. "One down, three to go." She rushed forward and punched one of the guys in the throat. He went down like a sack of potatoes. "This is too easy, I'm even wearing high heels to make it easy for you!"

"Get her!" shouted the one on the left. He rushed forward and met an untimely end when Serena kicked him viciously in the groin. He screeched just like a little girl and fell over with tears in his eyes. Serena turned to the last one, who was shivering with fear.

"You boys picked the wrong girl," she growled. She didn't even give him time to respond, she just smashed her heel into his face and he was knocked out.

"Silly boys," she giggled. It was unfortunate she couldn't report them, since she couldn't expose herself to the police without blowing her cover. She could, however, kick every last one while they were still down, and she did so with gusto.

"Little Serena," said Dewgong.

She looked up from the thug she was beating down. "Yes, Dewgong?"

"You have a message from the Gold Ranger. Shall I play it?"

She nodded. "O-Of course." She felt flustered for some reason. While she listened to the message she exited the alley, and by the time she was out she'd heard it all.

"Dewgong, book us on the first flight to Goldenrod City."

"Of course, little Serena."

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The machinery that surrounded Carol Dawson was simple and highly outdated. She typed with efficiency on a keyboard that any company with a decent budget would have replaced two years ago connected to a computer that had been operational for almost a decade, or at least it seemed like it whenever Carol tried to load anything on it. Each moment she was forced to watch a loading screen slowly crawl its blue bar to the right seemed like eternity. Eternity she could be spending being productive.

Her cubicle looked exactly like the dozen others that surrounded it. The only noticeable difference to the casual observer might have been the absolute absence of any personal items on her desk or tacked to the cubicle walls around her. While her coworkers had photos of their families, their friends, or even comics, Carol's was completely empty. Her desk was clean, immaculately so, and free of clutter, something that could not be said about any other desk on the floor.

Her eyes never left the computer screen. Carol was pretty, or as pretty as any girl could expect to be in a reasonable world. She wore big glasses that covered much of her upper face and underneath those massive glasses were a set of attractive blue eyes. Unlike other girls, she didn't wear makeup, but her face actually seemed to benefit from the absence of artificial assistance. Her hair was straight and neat, a strawberry blonde color that was pulled back into a tight bun. Her clothing was suitable, and completely ordinary.

In fact, that might be the perfect word to sum up Carol Dawson: ordinary.

She did not waver her attention, and for a full hour proceeded to type down a report regarding the coffee room abuses that had been going on in the office for the past three months. She had been asked to do this by her boss, a rather large man by the name of Reggie, who was beloved by all on the floor who wished to retain their jobs. This did not include Carol, but she did what she needed to do to make sure she had a steady paycheck.

She finished he report and sent it off to the printer. She sighed and stood up from her desk. She exited the safety of her cubicle and approached the printer on the other side of the room. It was a monstrous, old beast, and took forever to get started. It kept Carol waiting for a whole five minutes until it finally belched out the report into Carol's waiting arms.

"Took you long enough," she grumbled. She stapled the report together and walked through the office again. She was, for the most part, ignored by her coworkers, partially because of her cold, silent demeanor but also because they were terrified of her. And why shouldn't they be? She didn't like any of them and didn't pretend to, giving her a sense of freedom that the others undoubtedly were envious of. She marched through the maze of cubicles straight into Reggie's office. She opened the door and closed it just as quickly, dumping the report on his office without as much as a hello.

"The report you wanted," she said briskly and turned around to exit the office.

The man sitting behind the desk stood up. "Wait, Carol," he said. She paused and he stood up from the desk. "Carol, we need to talk about something."

"What?" she asked, rather bluntly. Her hand reached into her pocket for a moment.

"Carol, please," said Reggie and he gestured at the empty seat in front of his desk. With what looked like great reluctance Carol did as he asked. "Carol, I've been doing some reviews of the staff, and I think we need to have a talk about you staying on with our company."

"Has my work been unsatisfactory? I have not received a single complaint regarding my productivity."

He shook his head. "No, it's not that it's just…" He paused, as if he was having some difficulty in actually getting to the heart of the matter. "Carol, I've been receiving complaints from the staff here. They say you're weird and that you might be a serial killer."

Carol's face remained remarkably placid despite the accusation. "Who said that?" she inquired innocently. "I would like to correct the misunderstanding in person."

"Now you know I can't tell you that, but the problem is that you just don't seem to be fitting in here, Carol. Is something wrong? Are you feeling okay?"

"Nothing is wrong, and I am in perfect health. If that is all, I think I will leave." She rose to leave, but felt Reggie grab her hand. She did not move.

"Carol, these complaints have been coming in for months. If you don't make an effort to improve your relations with everyone, like the senior staff, we will have to let you go."

Carol's gaze was ice cold. "Are you suggesting that I smile, make jokes, and entertain the others? While I could be working?"

He nodded. "Yes, and-" Reggie tried to get closer, but Carol moved just far enough away.

"What are you doing?"

He grinned. "What do you think I am doing?"

"I think you are abusing your power as my superior to coerce me into acts of deviance. That would why the curtains are shut and the door is locked. Am I right?"

He grinned again. "Yes, you are."

Carol offered a switch of a smile. "Thank you. Now then-" She lifted her hand out of her pocket, revealing a recording device she carried with her "-what do you think I should do with this?" She played back the last few seconds of audio and watched Reggie's grin transcend into a gaze of horror.

"That's…err…you should-"

Carol held up her hand. "Excuse me for one moment. Telephone call." She lifted her hand to the small Bluetooth device against her ear. "What? I am deciding someone's fate right now."

"A call has just come in," said the feminine, malevolent voice. "It's from Gold. Do you want to take the message now?"

She glanced at Reggie, who seemed to have something wrong with his face. "Yes. It is likely an emergency. Play it." For a minute, she listened to her superior's voice ring through her head. When it was finished she said, "Prepare the arrangements. I will be done here shortly."

She turned to Reggie. "I think you get fired." She took out the recording and placed it back in her pocket. "Expect an order demanding your resignation in five minutes when I finish contacting your boss." Reggie had a weird look in his eye. "Do not try attacking me, you have no idea what I am capable of. Too bad, I was going to poker tonight." She unlocked the door and slammed it behind her, leaving a whiny fat man behind.

She walked past the office workers, all of whom regarded her with confused looks. She headed to the elevator and went to the floor where Reggie's boss, a woman named Amanda, was sitting.

"This is for you," said Carol when she saw Amanda. She handed her the recording and played it for her. "Reggie said to give it to you."

"What is it?" she asked.

"He foolishly thought he could molest me. This recording is his letter of resignation."

Before Amanda could ask further questions, Carol was already leaving, going down the stairs to the main floor. She passed through the front doors without so much as a backward glance. She turned and headed to the nearest discreet alley.

Making sure no one was looking, Carol lifted up her watch to her face. She pressed a button, and her face changed. Now she was green-eyed with long black hair.

415 smiled. She was back.

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"Has everyone gathered?" asked Axi. His voice had an impatient tone about it.

Bix said, "Patience, big brother. I am sure everyone is here."

"Everyone is here that needs to be." Both Axi and Bix looked up to see the faithful face of Ame looking at them with a businesslike demeanor. "Top and Dia shall be here at any moment-ah, here they are now."

The cavern Top and Dia entered was by no means interesting. Axi and Bix just seemed to have a particular fondness for the wilderness and for secret, dark places. Much of it was dark, the only light in the cavern came from Ame's flashlight. Axi and Bix themselves were shrouded in the darkness.

There was little noticeable about Top and Dia. Top was very tall, almost seven feet, while Dia was very small, only four feet tall. However, it was Dia who held the duo into the cavern, while Top walked slowly behind her. He looked around the cavern, then finally came to a stop right next to Dia, who looked disgusted.

"Why are we meeting here?" the little girl asked. She turned to Top. "Tell them I don't want to meet in stinky caves from now on!"

Top said nothing.

Axi jumped down and sat on the floor of the stinky cave. "Now now, little Dia. We just like camping, that's all! Now, why don't you pull up a rock and we'll get down to business."

Dia reluctantly pointed to one of the rocks near the twins. Top moved towards it and sat down, only then did Dia dare sit, and only because it was Top's lap. She made no move towards any of the other Dark Gem Rangers.

"What do you want us for?" asked Dia. "Can't they do the job themselves?" She pointed towards Axi and Bix, a look of disgust on her face.

Ame shook her head. "They have explained to me-"

"-We don't need to," said Axi, holding up his hand to interrupt her. "You're gonna do it, kiddie, and you'll do it with a smile because if you don't want to we have ways of making you."

"Dreadful ways," whispered Bix. "Most of them involving your body. We could always harvest it for a more valuable girl."

Top emitted a low growl from his throat. He started to get up, but one look from Dia settled him down. He continued to watch Axi and Bix carefully, patting Dia's head.

"What do you want us to do?" Dia asked, giving Axi and Bix an ugly look.

They grinned. "Thought you'd never ask," whispered Axi. "We've been looking for these people for over a year. Ame, give her the file."

Ame did as she was asked and produced a small file for Dia to look through. "What exactly do you want us to do with them?"

"Kill them. But there is an order to it."

"An order?"

Bix nodded. "Yes, an order. I want you to kill them all, but in a specific order. That's the contract. First, I want you to kill that boy Eme. He's been nothing but trouble and I do hate when one of us turns on our own kind."

Axi agreed. "Next, we want May Birch to die. Destroy her, and you crush Golden Boy's spirit. Thirdly, Sarah Birch must die. It must be painful too. This will kill the Gold Ranger and render him useless to them. Then you can pick apart his team. Bring little Serena to us alive and kill the new member. Serena is the only one that can remain alive, without her our long term plans will fail."

Dia looked up from the pages. "And what about Gold?" she asked.

"Oh him? After you take away everything, you won't have to worry about anything. He won't even fight. You can just walk up and finish the job he started four years ago."

Bix added, "Oh, there's one more thing. This job's for Top." He handed the big lug one more photo. "You will be messing with 0's mind."

Dia looked up. "What's the picture, Daddy?" she asked with a giggle.

"One of 0's friends," said Axi. "Take on his shape and screw him up. Understand?"

Top nodded and did as he was ordered. Slowly, he face began to shift, melt, and twist into something new. His eyes narrowed and became slits his hair grew short and spiky with a brownish tint.

"This is Brock Harrison," said Axi. "He was once a friend of our little friend the Gold Ranger."

"He's heading for Goldenrod as we speak," added Bix, "on a trip we've sent him on thanks to a contest. Just screw with their heads a little."

"Oh, that we can do…" Slowly, subtly, Dia began to giggle in the dank cave.

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"Kids, sit!"

The individuals who surrounded the man known to the world as Keean Toby were not particularly large, but they were menacing in vast numbers. The class before him was composed of thirty children of various ages between five and ten, all of whom were driven by an overwhelming desire to test the realms of his patience. Had he not needed the money or enjoyed what he did, the adult the children addressed as Mr. Toby would have just as easily strangled some of his students for the depths to which they pursued their agenda to test his sanity to its absolute limit.

Yet he was so large, so imposing, that often times if he was stern enough the children would do exactly as asked without complaint. It was mostly because of the goggles, which he supposed enhanced their supposed image of a demon that they had of him.

It was an image he encouraged amongst the children, helped greatly by May's quiet, gentle appearance. Sometimes she would stop in on the class and teach a few Coordinator tricks that 0 didn't know. But the children loved her and respected her as a gentle, if somewhat firm, wife to Keean Toby and mother to Sarah, who frequented most of the classes and had befriended most of the children. And, if they ever felt that Mr. Toby was too mean, May was the one person besides Sarah that he would obey without question.

To the girls in the class, it was a powerful lesson in family dynamics, a lesson they committed to memory. To the boys, it was a glimpse of their future, a future they couldn't see due to the onset presence of cooties they believed had been brought to the small school.

The Gold Ranger was flanked by his two Pokemon. Tork was quite friendly with the students, and all of them seemed to take a fancy to riding on its back when there was free time. Lu, on the other hand, was respected mainly by the boys for the delicate, calm nature it had gained as it grew. It now stood over four feet tall and was getting stronger every day. Despite not having an experienced Pokemon Breeder around like Brock, it was doing just fine in 0's care.

"Okay," he said, "you guys have a basic understanding of what a Pokemon Trainer does. They live with Pokemon and they train Pokemon for a bunch of things like battling, breeding, or just to keep them healthy. We're going to take that up a notch today."

He smiled and held up two balls, roughly the size of human heads. He bounced them on the ground. "By a show of hands, who knows how to play Dodge Ball?" Most of the kids, only two or three didn't, raised their hands. "Well, these guys don't." 0 tossed one of the balls to Lu, who grabbed it with some slight confusion with its paws, and the other to Tork, who balanced it on top of its orange head to the delight of most of the younger children.

"Your job, over the next week, is going to teach them to play this game. On Friday, we will have three games and the winner gets a party. With Mrs. Toby's home cooked dinner included, of course." 0 gestured at the back of the class, where his ex-wife was standing.

"Really, Mrs. Toby?" asked one of the kids, 0 was sure his name was Devon.

May nodded. "Of course, Devon. But you'll have to work hard as a team to train either Tork or Lu to play. Both of them are different, so you'll have to think differently depending on the Pokemon you're supposed to train."

0 nodded. "Okay, what we're going to do is have everyone stand in a line. Tork and Lu will be picking the people on their team."

"Why are the Pokemon picking?" asked a girl named Jasmine. "Don't trainers normally pick their Pokemon?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Not all the time, Jasmine. Sometimes a Pokemon will pick you, and it'll become your partner. That's why Lu and Tork are picking their trainers for this exercise, so you guys can work with someone unexpected. Helps you think on your feet." Then, to make sure that still feared him, he barked, "Alright! Form a line, let's go!"

The order was followed almost instantaneously. In no time, he saw a perfect row of children stretched over his backyard. Lu and Tork walked through the line and, seemingly randomly, picked out their trainers through a process that 0 couldn't even begin to figure out. Maybe because they knew her so well and wanted to meet new people, Sarah was picked last and went to Tork's team.

As the children began working with Lu and Tork, 0 took the opportunity to take a small walk with May. "How's the training going?" May asked.

He shrugged. "Kids seem to be doing okay. I think Tork and Lu should be able to keep them in line."

"Well, I think this was a wonderful idea. You are the best trainer alive, after all. Teaching kids how to be trainers was a perfect choice for you." She grinned. "Plus, you look so cute when you're trying to be serious." 0 reddened.

"He's trying to be serious? That's adorable!"

0, even if he had been able to activate Agility, wouldn't have had enough time to stop what launched herself at him and pinned him to the ground. The Gold Ranger was almost ready to transform, then he saw his attacker.

"Silver," he grumbled, "why do we always have to meet via tackling?"

Serena shrugged. "Tradition?" She looked up at a somewhat embarrassed May and smiled. "Hi, May. How ya been?"

"Oh, just fine, Serena. Mind getting off my husband?"

"Oh, did you guys get married again?" She got up and dusted herself off. "Was it a big wedding? Why didn't you wait for the rest of us?"

"We're not technically married," grunted 0 as he heaved himself back to his feet. "That's our cover." He turned to Lu and made sure that the Pokemon were capable of handling the children. "Come on, let's go inside."

He led Serena and May back into the house. "Wow, this place is huge!" cooed Serena as she took it all in. "You've been living the sweet life, 0."

"I wouldn't say that. I still work."

"Yeah, saw the kids outside, guessing that they're not all yours."

May nodded. "We look after the local children as a kind of daycare. 0 teaches them about Pokemon training and I give a few tips for the future Coordinators in the group."

"Cool. What're your names now?"

"Keean and May Toby."

"Keean Toby again? What's your deal with that name?"

0 shrugged. "It sounds nice and I can't use my legal name. It would bring trouble."

"Good point," said Serena. "So, where's Max and 415?"

"We don't know," May replied.

"We do."

Serena, May, and 0 turned to the door. Standing at the doorway was a tall man with black hair and glasses. Next to him was a smaller, but still threatening looking woman with short brown hair with matching eyes. Max had his bag slung over his shoulder while 415 had a neat suitcase rolling near her feet.

"Max!" 0 stood up and walked over to shake his hand. For some reason, Max seemed bigger than he had been, older too. There was a wild look in the former Gym Leader's eyes that 0 recognized, had once seen in himself. His hair was untamed and savage, though possibly a bit shorter than it had been over a year ago.

"In the flesh," Max said with a grin. "Only managed to get killed once today, so I'm doing well."

"Once? What happened?" May asked. 0 parted from him to allow him a brief reunion with his sister. "Are you alright?" She hugged him with a chuckle.

He hugged her back. "Oh yeah. Just happened when I ran into 415 on the way here. She greeted me in the traditional fashion."

0 turned to 415, whose facial features as always betrayed nothing. "What did you do?" he asked.

"Nothing permanent."

"What?"

"He recognized my morpher but did not identify himself. He approached me from behind and surprised me. I snapped his neck, thinking he was a Dark Gem. I was right."

"Did anyone see this?"

She shook her head. "Nobody."

Max rubbed his neck. "It still stings, you know. Least you could do is warn me before you go around snapping my neck."

"If I could crush the Dark Emerald, I would. Make no mistake about that. Would you prefer a more permanent end to our quarrels?"

"What quarrels? I haven't seen you for a year and the first thing you do is try to kill me?"

"Lovebirds," murmured Serena, "do you need to be grounded by 0 and me?"

"We are not lovebirds," protested Max.

415 nodded. "I finally agree on something the Dark Gem suggests."

"Well, then…stop bickering like two kids. We're here for business, not a family reunion."

"Thank you," said 0. "May, do you think you could watch the kids and make sure that Lu and Tork don't get hurt? I'm just going to fill them in on what's going on."

May nodded. "Of course. Come out when you're done. It's good that we have three new teachers." She left.

"Not a bad idea…" muttered 0.

"What?" asked Max.

"Nothing, I'll explain later. For now, let's go to Ranger Downs."

"Ranger Downs?" asked Serena.

0 nodded. "Ranger Downs."

He led them to the bookshelf and found Brock's book. He pulled it out and revealed the hidden pathway behind it. "We have outlined this house with metal and enough bulletproof glass to keep an army outside. Short of nuclear weapons, nobody can even get through the front door if I don't want them to."

"Good plan," said Max. "If those Dark Gems know where you are, that could come in handy."

"Yeah. Now then, Ranger Downs will be acting as our base of operations from now on." He led them down the corridor and down the stairs to the base. "It is designed with technology that Bakaguru sent to me before he died. It has a teleporter, hacking equipment, basically everything the lab had at PKM."

There was a whistle from Max when he saw the base. "You built all this?" he asked.

0 nodded. "Not too hard. Bakaguru modified the technology so it could be built out of practically anything. The teleporter runs on the garbage disposal. Even works two ways now, as long as we're morphed. Well, everyone except for Max. Don't know if it can pick up the Dark Emerald's signal yet. Hope that's not a problem."

Max shook his head. "No, used to being treated differently by now. I'll just grab on to someone if we need to teleport somewhere."

"That could work," said 0.

"No," said 415, "it would not. The teleporter might scramble the particles on the return trip, and nobody wants to be grafted onto a Dark Gem."

"Good point. Max walks home."

Max groaned. "Fine. But I'm going to need a bus pass if you expect me to walk all the way home from Goldenrod."

"Do not give it to him."

"Shut up."

Max turned to the Gold Ranger. "0, do you have a battle arena in this place?"

0 nodded. "Yes, I designed it so we could train without anyone noticing. Why?"

"Because I really want to fight 415." He turned to the other ranger and gave her an ugly look. "And when I beat her, maybe she'll see that maybe she's the weak ranger after all."

415 said, "I will not sully myself by fighting the monster. It would serve no purpose other than to remind him of his inferiorly constructed Ranger System."

Max cracked his knuckles. "Please let me do it, 0. Oh please, oh please, oh please…"

0 looked to Serena. "You up for dinner and a show?" he asked.

"Oh we haven't been on a date in years. I'd love to."

"Please let go of my hand."

"I will not."

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"Go Uncle Max!"

Sarah's shouting drowned out most of Serena and May's effort to catch up. The women sat by the sidelines of what looked like a Pokemon battle field, only it had a rubber surface designed for tough combat. At one end stood Max Birch, powerful and imposing. On the other was 415, stoically calm as always. 0 stood in the center, he would act as referee in the match.

"So," Serena said, "how are you and 0 doing?"

May shrugged. "We sleep in the same room again. For the longest time he stayed on the couch when he…rests, I guess that's the word for it because he still won't wean himself off the drug. Or he was working on the house. He still leaves, late at night, I don't know why."

"I think I do. He always used to leave when we were partners. He's on the lookout again, looking for the Dark Gems. He knows they know where you are. I suppose he wants to even the odds a little."

"Mommy! They're getting ready! They're getting ready!"

415 lifted her morpher and activated it. The Ranger Black armor grafted onto her instantly.

Max wrapped his chains around his arms. "Let's go," he growled. His eyes flashed just the slightest bit of green. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two Poke Balls, releasing Mightyena and Grovyle.

"What are those and why do they need releasing?" 415 asked.

Max grinned. "New toy," he said. "I'd be glad to beat you up with it."

0 sighed. Why did every day nowadays seem to include a fight? "Is this really necessary?"

"Yes," said 415. "The Dark Gem needs to learn his place."

"Let's just get this over with," growled Max. "I'm ready."

"Well, then begin!"

"Go Uncle Max!" screamed Sarah.

Max pressed the Dark Emerald into his flesh. _"Dark Gem Ignite!"_

The Dark Emerald Ranger emerged just in time to lift his hand to deflect a punch from the Black Ranger. Grovyle and Mightyena scattered, circling the fight just in case they were needed. The Dark Emerald Ranger growled under its breath and smashed 415 in the face.

"_Laaaade_," he hissed, as 415 recovered. "_Galla_."

"Speak English," 415 retorted. "Luxray, the Magnet Mace."

A massive weapon materialized in her hand with a narrow handle and a massive blunt end with spikes covering it. She shouldered the weapon, it almost seemed too big for her, and swung it when the Dark Emerald Ranger got too close. His neck broke but healed instantly. He recovered just in time to avoid the mace's smash against the floor.

"_Galla Galla_," growled the dark ranger.

415 readied the giant mace again. "Come and get me," she said coldly.

The Dark Emerald Ranger snarled and shot his chains out. He grabbed hold of the Magnet Mace and tore it out of her hands. It crashed into the ground at his feet and he growled with approval before retracting his chains.

"Luxray, retrieve that," 415 ordered. She lowered her hand and her ranger spirit activated the magnetic strips inside her uniform's gloves. The mace tore through the air and she caught it by the handle.

The Dark Emerald Ranger howled and suddenly Grovyle was at his side. Mightyena continued to watch from a distance. The dark ranger wrapped the chains of his left arm around Grovyle and absorbed the Pokemon. His hand again transformed into the Pokemon's face, his fingers melding into teeth and lips.

"That's new," said 0 with interest.

Sarah turned to May. "Mom, did Uncle Max just tape a Pokemon head to his hand?"

"I…don't know," whispered May.

Serena was astounded. "What kind of training did he go through this past year?"

The Grovyle head's lips opened and the machinegun-like fire of Bullet Seed exploded forth. 415 grunted as she was pelted with hundreds of seeds and the dark ranger snickered as she dropped her mace.

"_Laaaaaade_!" roared Max as he charged forward. The chain of his right arm fired out and grabbed 415 by her legs. They twisted and twined until she couldn't escape and she fell over. The chain continued to wrap until she couldn't even budge an inch. The Dark Emerald Ranger's charge slowed to a walk, until finally he stood in front of her.

415 looked into the glowing green eyes of the Grovyle's head then shifted her gaze to the helmet Max wore.

Max was breathing heavily when he demorphed. Grovyle separated from his body and reappeared by his side and the chain faded into the necklace Max wore. His face was ragged and beneath his glasses she saw the strain it had taken to reign himself in.

"I'm…" He was breathing heavily. "I'm not one of them. Understand me. I'm not a monster."

He walked away. 415, watching him go, could almost see the faint outline of the Gallade's shade that mimicked his every motion, and quivered with rage.


	29. Morph 29

**Morph Twenty-Nine: Top Steals a Present**

The night was far from young.

Jenny glanced out of the window of her car. There weren't many other people out driving, she was basically alone on Goldenrod's often-crowded streets. The police officer sighed and tried to turn on the radio, but after a moment decided against it. At this hour, all that would be playing would be the techno music that she understood the young people were fans of these days.

She glanced at the passenger's seat. Seated in a special harness was a small Pokemon, a little Fire type by the name of Growler. Its mane was a little grey these days, it was an older but trustworthy Pokemon and, personally, Jenny would rather have no one else as her partner. It growled softly at the buildings they passed through its tired eyes.

"Yeah, it is kind of late, huh," said Jenny. The Growlithe nodded its head in agreement. "I promise, we'll just spend a few minutes at the office then we'll go straight home." It growled appreciatively at the prospect of an early night.

They arrived at police headquarters, Goldenrod division, five minutes later. The building was still lit up, so someone had to be there working the night shift. She let Growler out first and followed her Pokemon into the offices. She passed Vasquez at the front desk and marched towards her private office. She had a smile on her face, but all of the police officers she passed were well aware of the fact that she was tired and didn't bother her.

She was grateful for that and closed the door to her office behind her. She briefly glanced at the wall, where she had a family photo framed, then headed straight to her desk with its mountain of paperwork waiting for her. Growler, after a moment, headed straight for its basket on the end of the room. It circled the basket thrice and pawed at it, trying to get the perfect comfort out of the pillow, then stretched out and curled up into a little ball and went to sleep.

Jenny looked at it and sighed. "Wish it was that easy for me." She picked up the first piece of paper she could reach. It was a memo about the fire that had been reported in Aura Town almost two weeks ago. She didn't like thinking about it, it made her stomach uneasy. It had been reported originally as an accident, but evidence was showing up suggesting a struggle might have taken place beforehand.

She put aside the paper, she didn't want to deal with something like that. The suggestion that there were people in the world who could commit such violent acts… "What is the world coming to?" she asked Growler. It offered only a slightly louder snore and began pawing at the air.

She reached for another paper, this one was about the failed robbery of the Goldenrod Central Bank. This she could handle, she thought. She had just started reading the report when the lights in her office flickered. She looked up just in time to see them go out, plunging the police headquarters into darkness.

"Oh come on!" she shouted and stood up. Growler woke up and started to growl softly. "What is it, Growler?" It began barking, and Jenny started reaching for the desk drawer with her gun.

"Do not attempt to arm yourself," said a mechanized voice in the darkness. It almost jolted her with surprise. "We apologize for the interruption. We had no choice."

Growler started moving towards the figure in the dark. Jenny couldn't make him out, but she could see as his circular-shaped head shifted its attention towards Growler and began barking, exactly like a Pokemon. Growler stopped growling and sat down next to the figure.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Jenny asked. "I can have the entire squad here in seconds if I scream."

"Please don't scream." Jenny was surprised, this voice was a female's. She began making out a figure standing in front of the man who had barked at Growler and calmed him down. "We don't mean any harm, we just want to talk."

Jenny calmly sat down back behind her desk. "Talk, then. Make it quick, the power will be on quickly."

"Don't think so," said the man. "I'm absorbing the electricity for this building thanks to a hack. It will be reactivated when we leave in a controlled manner to prevent a system overload."

"I'm sorry, you're doing what?" Jenny was certain she had heard him wrong, people didn't absorb electricity unless they were being strapped to an electric chair.

"Siphoning your electricity. It's one of the things I can do. Don't try to think too hard about it."

"Excuse me- Who are you people and what do you want?" It had been her initial request, but their attentions had been diverted.

"Friends. We have been attempting to remain hidden. That will no longer be possible now, so we wish to operate with your knowledge through Goldenrod City and its surrounding areas."

"Operate what?"

The male figure, clearly in charge of the discussion, looked towards the female, who nodded encouragingly. The male said, "You have seen reports of arson in Aura Town and the bank robbery, right?"

Jenny nodded. "I have."

"We were indirectly involved with them. The bank robbery was dealt with by one of our members and the arson was a threat against our team by another, rival group. They have given us a leeway of two weeks, which ends tomorrow. To that end, it was decided that it would be a good idea to make contact with you."

"Wait, you guys are responsible for the robbery and the arson?"

The figure shook his head. "No. We are a group that fights these things. I am its leader."

"Uh-huh. And what's the group's name."

"We don't have one," said the female. "We had a disagreement with our employers. We freelance now."

"We're rangers," said the man. "Just rangers. My codename is Ranger Gold. My partner here is codenamed Ranger Silver."

"Nice to meet you," said Jenny. "Mind giving me some names with those?"

"Names are not necessary. Anonymity is part of our deal here."

"What deal is that?"

The man stepped forward. "Starting tomorrow, your city is going to be attacked by forces that you will be unable to combat. In fact, doing so will probably result in deaths. We would like to avoid that, if possible. That's why we need your help."

Jenny considered the suggestion. "Are you sure that police officers will be killed? That nothing can be done about it?"

"If you interfere, yes. If you allow us to operate covertly, we can minimize casualties by fighting these enemies on our terms. Do you understand?"

Jenny shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't. Rangers, enemies the police can't fight, this is sounding a bit too much like one of those summer action movies."

"Please," said the woman. "I know this is difficult for you to believe right now, but you have to trust us. These enemies are terrorists and they won't stop until they destroy everything. We need to be allowed to fight them without having to worry about civilians."

"Ma'am, I assure you-"

"-Silver," she said. "Call me Silver."

"Miss Silver, I assure you our police force may be small, but we do not just back down when facing a tough opponent." Jenny slammed her hand on the desk. "Even the thought of running away…it sickens me!"

The man, Ranger Gold, held up his hand. Jenny noticed that it seemed, even in the darkness of the room, to sparkle with golden light. "No one is saying you won't be involved, Officer Jenny. We have the full intent of cooperating with the police department instead of operating as vigilantes. It would waste time neither of us have and would serve no productive purpose."

"So, you want us to be your errand boys? Just go around town and do what you tell us to?"

"No!" Ranger Gold scratched his helmet, as if wondering why this was so difficult for her to grasp. "Look, this fight has been going on for almost two years. We've been hiding for a while, but they found us. Now it doesn't matter where we go, we'll have to fight them. And it has to be us, Jenny-No! Do not open your mouth and listen to me because I am trying to help you. These people do not worry about a body count, or whether they will be caught. To them, it is either kill or be killed and they are very good at killing. They will kill anyone who stands in the way of their goals and that could very well be your men if you do not cooperate with us."

Jenny considered that for a moment. "Are you sure?" she asked in a low voice.

"Hey, Jenny!" It was a voice from outside and Ranger Gold's hand instinctively formed into a knuckle. "Power's going to be out for a while. You okay in there?"

"Fine Vasquez!" Jenny shouted back. "Don't come in."

"Very good, ma'am." They heard Vasquez's footsteps walk away.

Jenny returned to the conversation. "Are you sure?" she repeated.

Ranger Gold nodded. "I am positive, Officer Jenny. There is no alternative. Your force is unequipped to handle the threat that it faces and we have the necessary weapons to fight them. You must permit us to operate in Goldenrod City and the surrounding areas in order to combat these terrorists."

"And what shall we, the police, do? Sit around and twiddle our thumbs while superheroes do all the work?"

Ranger Gold shook his head. "No. I only ask your officers do not enter combat with the terrorists. Traffic control, blocking off areas to protect the public, these are still jobs that will need to be done if this fight is to be successful. But it cannot happen without a cooperative measure with the police, Officer Jenny. Do you understand?"

She did and she nodded her agreement. "On one condition."

"What?"

"You will tell us everything we might need to know about yourselves and these terrorists. We don't need personal information, but an idea of what we will be up against and helping you deal with would be appreciated."

Ranger Gold thought for an instant then raised his hand. "Expect us and the information within the week, Officer Jenny."

Jenny, hesitant at first, grasped his hand and shook it. He was wearing some kind of armor that felt tough yet flexible. When their fingers parted, she felt a rush of air and heard a crack of lightning. Suddenly the lights came on in the room.

Jenny looked at Growler and smiled. "Let's just go home for the night, baby. I need to think." She rubbed her ears, the lightning crack had been too loud.

Growler howled its approval and practically raced Jenny to the car.

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Max Birch carefully attempted to decide what exactly he wanted.

It was difficult, shopping for someone while knowing absolutely nothing about them. After about an hour of looking around, he reluctantly approached a sales clerk for some advice. She was the cheery type with a bubbly personality and wasted absolutely no time waiting for Max to get near her. She practically jumped over the counter to assist him.

"Hi, I'm looking for a-"

"Hello, I'm Melody! How can I help you today?" Max could hardly begin to describe how happy she appeared to be to speaking to him. Her red hair seemed to glisten with each word that escaped her painted lips. Max found it hard to look at her sparkling green eyes, simply because they seemed to be glowing with excitement.

"Yeah," he said and scratched the back of his neck. "I'm kinda looking for something for a friend of mine."

Melody looked him up and down. "A girlfriend…?"

He shook his head. "No, just a friend. She's been mad at me lately and I need to get her something so she'll stop trying to kill me."

"Too bad. I was hoping you were single. Come on, let's find your special friend a perfect gift."

"She's not my- Whoa!" Before he could complete his sentence, Melody grabbed him and thrust him right into the center of the perfume aisle. The enhancements to his senses thanks to the Dark Emerald caused him to cough vigorously.

"What kind of perfume does she wear?" Melody asked. "Women love perfume."

"Uh…" Max could have probably smelt out the scent of 415's perfume, but he was relatively certain that she didn't wear any perfume. In fact, now that he thought of it, the only smell-related memory regarding 415 seemed to be a total absence of smell. "Do you have a…sterile thing or something? I don't think she wears anything like these things."

"She doesn't wear perfume?" Melody's voice sounded confused. "Is she, like, a hippie or something?"

Max shook his head. "Oh no, no, no, no, no. Just doesn't like smelling like weird fruit I guess. Do you have anything else?"

"Like some jewelry or something?"

Again, Max tried to remember. Did 415 wear jewelry? No, he was sure she did not and shook his head. "I've never seen her wear anything like that."

"Then what? A stuffed bear? Something from Hello Kitty?"

"No, she's too weird for that stuff. Do you have anything like an automatic weapon or a…hang on, that's not going to help me. That'll probably make it more difficult. Wait, how about a kni-no, not a knife either. What else do you guys have?"

"Uh…clothes. Oh yeah! We've got tons and tons of clothes!"

"Take me to those. That might be the way to go, I know she wears clothes."

"Who doesn't?" She led Max through the store, up the stairs, and to the second floor. Rows and rows of clothes stood waiting for him to peruse. "Now, what size does she wear?"

"Beg pardon? Size?"

"What is her dress size? Her blouse size? Her pants size?"

"Oh. I know none of those things. Wait, blouses have their own sizes?"

"Of course," said Melody. "Why wouldn't they? So, you don't know?"

"I do not know these things."

"Well, why don't you go find out and come back. I'll help you pick out something nice for my girlfriend."

"She's not my-" Max was about to finish, but decided to let it slide. After all, he knew that 415 was a creature of apathy and emotionless behavior. Nobody else needed to know. Nobody else would believe anyone like 415 existed, even if he tried to explain her.

"Thanks," he finally said. They reached the first floor and Max started heading for the door. "I'll definitely be back."

Melody smiled. "Oh, I'm just glad I could help."

Then, from afar, someone in the jewelry aisle shouted, "Somebody help! He just stole all the diamonds!"

Max turned and growled instinctively. "Go call the police," he ordered Melody. It was a simple robbery, transforming wouldn't be required for something like this…

"What are you going to do?" she asked, her fingers were already dialing the buttons.

He shrugged. "Just going to go get back the stuff. No biggie." From what Max could see of the dashing figure, he was certain that he wasn't armed with any guns. He was a bit tall, but an ordinary person was not going to be an issue for someone bonded to a Dark Gem.

He caught up to the thief before he even managed to get out of the store and shoved him. The thief fell into a series of shelves and crashed the ground, sending fine china shattering to the ground.

"Oops," muttered Max. "Uh, that was my bad."

The man was getting back up, despite the fact that he should have been in an incredible amount of pain. There were pieces of plates sticking into his body and blood was gushing out. The man turned to Max and he almost screamed.

It was Brock.

"Brock," said Max, "what are you doing-"

His sentence remained unfinished because Brock ran right up to him and smashed him in the chest with his fist. Max felt pain and fell over, coughing. He tasted blood on his lips.

"B-Brock," Max growled. "What are you doing here?"

Brock did not appear to recognize him, but when his gaze trailed down to the Dark Emerald on Max's neck his eyes flashed. Brock reached into his pocket and pulled out a topaz fashioned onto a long chain so similar to Max's.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Max grumbled.

Brock growled and wrapped the chain around his neck and wrists. But when he opened his mouth, Max knew, knew, it couldn't be him. The mouth was a black pit, like a piece of mask coming apart.

The store seemed to explode with light and, when it died, Max found himself face to face with a new Dark Gem Ranger. This one literally seemed to be made of muscles from its head to its toes. It was entirely orange, save for the black chains that were wrapped around its neck and wrists, along with a few accents of black around its boots and gauntlets. Its helmet was circular with an X-shaped visor. It glared down at Max and grabbed him with its free hand. The other one clutched a bag filled with precious gems.

Max felt the chains surround his arms instantly, but he waited until he could contact 0 with his com-link. "Ranger Downs, come in!" Max shouted.

A voice answered him moments later, Serena's. "What is it, Max?"

"Fished out a big one at the department store. Backup would be cool."

"Got it. Tracing your location now. Keep him busy until Black and I get there."

"Where's…0?" growled Max. He wasn't going to be able to hold the beast back any longer.

"One of us has to stay behind. Hang on, we'll be there in a second!"

Max decided to let loose and, struggling to press the Dark Emerald into his flesh, shouted, _"Dark Gem Ignite!"_ The Dark Gem Ranger strangling him let him go in surprise and watched as Max completed his transformation. The Dark Emerald Ranger growled and returned to his feet.

"_Laaaade_," he hissed and ran forward. The other ranger, though strong, was incredibly slow, making it an easy task for Max to smash his fists into the Dark Gem Ranger's stomach. The Dark Gem Ranger doubled over but did not fall and repaid the debt by throwing a punch right in Max's face. He crouched and flipped backwards, landing with his fingertips just scraping at the floor.

The Dark Emerald Ranger heard footsteps issue from behind him, and suddenly the Black and Silver Rangers flanked him. Recognizing them, the Dark Emerald Ranger stood up and growled at the Black Ranger, who for the most part ignored him and focused on the enemy.

"What is that thing?" Serena asked.

"Looks like topaz," said 415. "A Dark Topaz Ranger."

The Dark Topaz Ranger roared and charged forward. Serena and 415 scattered, leaving the Dark Emerald Ranger to be the primary fighter. Max growled as the Dark Topaz Ranger threw a punch. He blocked its blow and grappled with the giant monster, keeping it positioned just so in order to let Serena and 415 get in a few hits.

The Magnet Mace was downloaded instantly to 415 and the Black Ranger took advantage of the Dark Topaz Ranger's incapacitation to bust its head open. It was like a baseball player hitting one out of the ball park, the monster's head came flying off and smashed against the wall, disintegrating to dust.

Suddenly, in Max's mind he heard the Dark Emerald screaming at him to get away. It overloaded his senses and he briefly lost his coordination.

The Dark Topaz Ranger, from somewhere in its body, growled. Another head exploded out of its shoulders and two extra arms, just like a Machamp, emerged and grabbed Max's arms. The Dark Emerald braced him, but nothing could completely drown out the pain of his arms breaking. A guttered, wrenching screech issued from inside the Dark Emerald Ranger's helmet.

"Black, backup now!" ordered Serena and she swarmed the Dark Topaz Ranger with 415. The Frost Fans slashed through the air and stuck into its back. It grunted in pain. The fans detached just as quickly and spun back to their mistress while 415 readied another blow. As the Dark Topaz Ranger turned around she smacked the Magnet Mace against its weak point on its chest. It screeched, but the gem didn't even lose its shine, let alone crack.

It savagely kicked her in the shoulder, sending her flying into Serena. With nothing to stop it, the Dark Topaz Ranger bolted for the door and tore out of the store. The Dark Emerald Ranger got to his feet and headed over to where Serena was helping 415 up.

"You okay?" Serena asked.

The dark ranger grunted and his only other response was to begin following the trail that the Dark Topaz Ranger had left for them. He could sense the Dark Topaz now, the Dark Emerald wouldn't shut up when it was near. It followed the trail that made his Dark Gem go off the most.

He lifted his head and spotted the Dark Topaz Ranger climbing a building. Its four arms had changed into spider-like legs and it was scaling the building with surprising efficiency. Max wasn't sure where the gems were but the Dark Emerald insisted that they were probably absorbed into the Dark Topaz's Ranger's body, like Max had done with the serum long ago.

Max lifted his arm and the chain that wrapped around it elongated and fired upwards. It grappled itself to the roof and shot Max right into the air. The Dark Emerald Ranger fired the second chain into the building to perfectly align his body to deliver a high-powered kick to the back. The topaz ranger crashed through the window and into an office building. The emerald ranger followed it through the opening and landed on all fours.

Bits of glass tumbled out of the Dark Topaz Ranger's body and it cracked all four sets of knuckles as it faced Max. The Dark Emerald was screaming at him to retreat, but he couldn't. He wouldn't show weakness, not in front of the Dark Gems and not in front of his friends. He hadn't battled and endured the harsh terrain of northern Sinnoh, he hadn't fought against the toughest wild Pokemon in the world, for nothing!

The Dark Emerald shrank back, terrified at its contractor's need to battle, to prove himself. It knew his capabilities, it even knew that he probably had the best chance of the rangers to defeat the Dark Topaz. The Dark Emerald was of equal, if not greater power, and with both of the Dark Gem Rangers in Chained Form the likelihood of success increased. Serena and 415, once they got there, would be able to help him. If the Gold Ranger were here, whispered the Dark Emerald, the likelihood of victory would be certain.

No, Max said back. He could win, on his own. He just needed the chance. He would prove himself to the Dark Emerald.

But, whispered the Dark Emerald, if Max died there would be nothing proven.

Then he wouldn't die, said Max. It was just that simple.

The Dark Topaz Ranger roared, a sound that might have terrified others but not them. Not Max and not the Dark Emerald. They crouched low and waited for the Dark Topaz Ranger to rush forward, to attack.

But it didn't. It turned and ran from the room, crashing through an office wall on its way out. Max growled and rushed forward, he would not let it escape. He leapt through the air and tackled it, sending them both crashing through another wall. They were so flimsy, these walls, thought the Dark Emerald. They could be used.

Max lifted his hand. Out of his palm emerged a regular Poke Ball. He had learned he could conceal things inside himself well, just as the Dark Topaz Ranger hid the diamonds and precious gems inside its body too. The Dark Emerald Ranger opened the ball and absorbed Grovyle into his left hand.

Its eyes glowed bright green as its head pointed at the Dark Topaz Ranger. Its mouth glowed as it fired bullet after bullet into the beast's hide. It screeched and rushed forward. Max dodged by rolling to the side and continued to fire at it. It crashed through another wall and did not return.

Where was it? Max looked right and left, before finally asking the Dark Emerald to find its Dark Gem. It would not, or rather could not. The Dark Topaz was hiding, said the Dark Emerald, and once hidden would need to be found by sight. Max released Grovyle and demorphed to communicate with Serena and 415.

"You guys out there?" he asked through his com-link.

"No," said Serena's static voice. "We're already demorphed. Cops are all over this place, we didn't want anyone to see us. Are you still inside?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Do I need to get out of here?"

"You do. Figure a nice, discreet way."

"Think you can handle that, Dark Gem?" asked 415.

He nodded. "Where do you want to meet?"

"Meet us two blocks south. Far enough away from the police and close enough to not get lost. Find the coffee shop."

"Okay, I'll be there in five minutes." He terminated the line and started looking around.

A lot of collateral damage had been caused. Walls were torn up, several cubicles were smashed. Max was careful not to touch anything and used his jacket sleeve to push knobs when needed. He wasn't giving the cops any chance of getting his fingerprint, that was attention he did not need.

He followed the path of destruction left by the Dark Topaz Ranger. Actually, now that he thought of it, there wasn't much destruction. After the hole it had torn through to escape, the Dark Topaz Ranger had apparently gone out of its way to not damage anything. The cubicles and walls were still intact, so where did the monster go?

The police, whispered the Dark Emerald. They were downstairs moving through the building floor by floor. There were guns.

"What do I do?" asked Max. He needed something, fast.

Go to the bathroom, whispered the Dark Emerald. He did as it said and broke open the door with a well-placed kick. It instructed him to climb onto the nearest toilet and towards the ceiling. With some effort he managed to reach the ceiling tiles and pull one out. The Dark Emerald was ordering him to hurry and he only got inside the narrow space between the floors just in time to see the police approaching.

They didn't see him, insisted the Dark Emerald. Now he needed to summon the chain to create a diversion. Max focused on the chain he was holding and it elongated, though it wasn't nearly as large or powerful as it was when he morphed. Somehow, he could tell where the chain was going, how it was slowly but surely following the cops, and how it slowly reached towards the nearest figure in sight.

Max grabbed hold of the nearest cop. He yelped and started screaming for help. The police were too focused to notice as Max, at the urging of the Dark Emerald, curled his other hand into a fist and smashed through the ceiling. The police officer was let go and Max was gone.

Now, go to the stairs, whispered the Dark Emerald. Max did as he was told and found the staircase empty. He latched the chain to the nearest railing and jumped down the stairwell. He landed with a hard landing and continued to move through the building. He could not go out through the front door, police were there. Instead, he opened an ignored window and shut it before walking off.

All in the span of three minutes. He still had two left to sprint two blocks to the coffee shop Serena had mentioned. He couldn't sprint, not from a crime scene crawling with police, so he carefully walked away from anyone he noticed down the two blocks and entered the coffee shop. He was breathing hard when he sat down next to Serena and 415.

"You look like you've had some fun," said Serena.

"I would say he looks like he failed to defeat our target," said 415. She sipped on a cup of water while Serena drank heavily from a cardboard cup of warm coffee.

"Guy got away," he said. "Like to see you do better."

"Comparison would not serve any use. Your Ranger System, though inferior, allows you to operate under more varied areas of combat. You should have understood that, if we could not follow you, you should have used whatever strength you are capable of to fight and defeat our opponent."

"I could have!" Max growled lowly after he noticed his outburst had caught the attention of some of the other patrons. "I could have," he said, in a lower voice. "Guy is in Chained Form, he's at the first point of our evolution like I am. We're on equal footing. The thing is…I don't think the guy wanted to fight."

"What do you mean?" Serena asked.

"Well, while I was fighting it, I couldn't help but notice the guy was only reacting in self-defense the whole time. It only tried to fight me when I was threatening it, and kept trying to run away the whole rest of the time."

"So what?" asked 415. "It was still a Dark Gem, maybe it sympathized with you when it recognized you were kin."

Max shook his head. "I don't think that's it. The Dark Gems wouldn't send a ranger who was afraid to kill me. The fact that I'm one of them hasn't ever worked to my advantage."

"Then we are dealing with a coward. It will make it easier to destroy in the long run," said 415.

"No, that's not it. This guy can hold its own in battle, it just didn't want to fight."

"Maybe," suggested Serena, "it's just that it didn't need to fight you. How did you find the thing again?"

"I was- I was shopping for something and I noticed someone steal some jewelry. I thought that I could just trip up a simple robber, but my luck made it so I wound up fighting a Dark Gem Ranger instead."

"So it was just getting some jewelry? Why would it do that?" 415 wondered.

Max shrugged. "I don't know. I really don't. It's like the guy just wanted to get away." He rubbed his brow. "I think something's different about this topaz guy. The Dark Emerald was terrified of it."

Serena lowered her cup. "Hang on…your Dark Gem was scared of it? How does it get scared of anything?"

"The Dark Emerald is a part of me," Max explained. "It has emotions and feelings just like I do. Only it knows more than I do about the other Dark Gems. And it's terrified of this one. Each time I got near it I would hear it shouting to get away. I was only barely able to show it that I could protect it."

"So, a Dark Gem is afraid of another Dark Gem," said 415. "And this Dark Topaz is pretty strong. It was able to manifest new body parts on command."

"Hang on, getting a call," said Serena and she touched the headset on her ear. "Serena here. Yes…okay, we're on our way." She switched off the set and looked towards the other two. "Gold wants us back at Ranger Downs now for debriefing. Especially Max."

"Well, he will have to wait for that. Dark Gems can't be brought back through the teleporter." 415 stood up. "We will wait for you then. Do not be out too late, little boy." She walked out, already speaking on her com-link to Gold to transport her once she was in a secure location.

Max groaned. "Is she ever going to leave me alone?" he asked.

Serena giggled. "You kids are still new at this. She's still feeling you out. When 0 and I were partners, I used to drive him crazy too. Oh, I had such a crush on him…" She trailed off, lost in memories, then she smiled. "Oh relax, kiddo. I'm not in love with him anymore. I wouldn't want you to worry about him and your sister."

"No, she just doesn't like me. Can't figure out why."

Serena leaned in. "Come on, kiddo. I'll go home with you." She and Max got up and walked out of the shop, headed to the bus station. "You know, I don't really think she hates you. She just doesn't understand you."

"What's not to understand? I'm a good guy who happens to be bonded to an evil Dark Gem. I spent a year getting myself under control, I worked hard. What more does she want?"

Serena shrugged. "She's not someone you can read. You can only hope she gets used to you. She hated Gold when he first became a ranger because she had a thing for the old one."

"She did?"

"He was the one who brought her into PKM. She thought of him as a father. But she got used to 0 eventually, she even looks up to him now as a leader. She got used to him, she'll get used to you too. Eventually.

"But," she said, "what I want to know is how you're holding up with the Dark Emerald? You doing okay, Maxy?"

"Yeah, I'm doing better with it. I've figured out ways to keep control and ways for it to help me. It sort of has a mind of its own, and when I morph mine gets melded with it. Do you get what I mean?"

Serena nodded. "The bus is here," she said. They got on and sat near the back, where nobody would bother them. "So, when you're fighting, it's you? Even though you can't speak English?"

"Yes and no. We both have to agree to do things, but it's more or less me who does the thinking. The Dark Emerald does the moving and the warnings."

"Warnings?"

Max shrugged. "Kinda like your system with the ranger spirit. The only difference is that I'm linked closer to the Dark Emerald than you guys are to the ranger spirit. It mixes with my brain. It's not a perfect sync yet."

"Don't worry. You'll get it right someday."

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"You are doing that wrong, you know that, right?" asked 415.

She and Max sat in front of the sink scrubbing furiously at several dishes left over from May's dinner. Now that they were living in Ranger Downs, 0 had insisted that they help May with the chores around the house. Max partially thought this was because he wanted her to feel like she was part of a big home, but secretly thought it was because the Gold Ranger, for all his heroic deeds, simply didn't want to have to scrub in front of the sink.

"How am I doing this wrong?" he asked. So far, from what he could see, each plate that he had scrubbed had been perfectly clean. May's plates were identical, each one was white and devoid of any leftover food. Max set the one he had just finished washing in the dish washer where it took its place surrounded by other, similar dishes.

"You should be scrubbing in a counterclockwise movement to remove all of the excess grime. You are scrubbing in a vertical pattern."

"Does it really matter? It's going in the dish washer anyway. It gets clean in there."

"If you did not feel the need to leave mass amounts of food remaining on your plates, maybe we would not need to spend so much time removing them."

"Do I have to beat you up again?"

"Kids." Both turned to see 0 leaning against the kitchen's door frame with a frown on his face. "Does Daddy need to beat the two of you senseless to make you get along?"

"I was just explaining to the Dark Gem his inferior technique," said 415. "He needs training."

"415, give us a minute alone," 0 ordered. She nodded and set the plate she was cleaning down. "Max talk." Max waited until 415 was out of the kitchen.

"'Bout what?" he asked.

"Something's bugging you. What is it?"

Max groaned. "Nothing. 415's just getting to me. I'm kind of getting sick and tired of being a pet for you guys. I'm a ranger too, I should have the same treatment but I don't. You and Serena treat me fairly, but 415 just won't give me a break. What's her deal, anyway?"

"Relax. She's giving you a hard time because she's the newest ranger. Trust me, she wasn't my biggest fan when I first started this gig. Keep proving her wrong, eventually she'll shut her trap and let you be." He walked over and clasped Max's shoulder. "Besides, you're much louder than a pet. Now, think you can give me an idea of what this guy was?"

"Y-Yeah." Max gulped, he was uncertain of how to explain what he'd seen. "The Dark Emerald was giving me some info. This thing's called the Dark Topaz Ranger, and it said that the Dark Topaz is really bad business."

"Really? Why?"

Max lowered his head. "0, this thing looked like Brock."

"_What_?"

0 looked into the other room, Serena and May were still talking and 415 was nowhere to be found. He motioned for Max to follow him and they headed into Ranger Downs so they could talk in private.

"Tell me everything that happened out there today," he ordered. Max did, and 0 clenched his hands into fists when he was finished. "Now Max, you need to tell me this: is Brock a Dark Gem or is this just a trick?"

Max shrugged and said, "I don't know. It looked like Brock, but when it transformed I didn't recognize anything. Can you find out on your own?"

0 shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe…hang on." He bent his head and placed his hand on the communicator in his ear. "Pi? Yeah, you been listening in? Think you can run a trace on Brock and see where he was last spotted? Okay, thanks." He raised his head. "Pi said it would take a few minutes, but it thinks it can pull it off."

Max nodded They waited three minutes, some of the longest minutes of their lives, before Pi signaled that it had finished the trace and invited them to the computer screen. 0 uploaded the Pikachu and the mouse emerged in the virtual world.

"I ran a trace on Brock's name," it explained. Its voice was coming from the computer. "Bank records, credit cards, newspapers. I found out that Brock won a trip from a local contest in Pewter. A contest which brought him to Goldenrod City for the next month. The contest was sponsored by a local radio station, it includes several parties, hotels, and events, all paid for."

0 groaned. "Oh no, this is not good. When did he get here?"

"His flight arrived a few days ago."

"Can you confirm where he was today?"

"I can't. There's nothing on the schedule today. A better search will take time."

0 nodded. "Do it. We will wait."

"What are you going to do until then?" asked Max.

"I'm going to go see Jenny. Get Silver down here so we can go and bring 415 with you too."

"Why her?"

"Because," said 0, "I need someone who can fire up the teleporter."

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"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" Serena asked.

0 nodded. "I am. We can't let them fight blind, they need to know what they're up against."

"But what if they turn on us?"

"They won't. Jenny might be a little incompetent…alright, a lot incompetent sometimes, but she's not a complete idiot. She'll know we're telling the truth and that we want to help her. We won't tell her any more than she needs to know."

Serena shook her head. "I still don't trust these civilians. They always get in our way."

"Which is why we need them on our side now. If we can work with them, maybe we can reduce casualties. This Topaz guy is dangerous, we can't afford to lose any more people." He was still thinking of Frank and Alice, their corpses burning before his eyes. "No more innocents die, understand Silver?"

She nodded. "Yes sir. So, are we just going to stand outside the police headquarters or are we actually going to go inside anytime soon?"

They had been outside the police station for a good ten minutes just looking at the building. They couldn't go inside normally, since they didn't want to compromise their identities so easily.

"Jenny's not there yet," 0 said. "Her office is dark."

"When does she normally get here?"

"About now." Sure enough, in less than a minute they saw the officer's car pull up into her reserved parking space and a Growlithe jump out of the passenger seat. They waited for a few more minutes, as Jenny walked through the police station, just to be on the safe side. "Okay, let's go."

They transformed and stuck to the shadows. Serena opened up a power box nearby that was connected to the police station's transformer. Just the right surge of electricity from 0 would send the entire block into a total blackout.

He stuck he hand inside the wires and jolted the machine with enough electricity to power a city. The box exploded and sent sparks everywhere.

"Geez, 0! You didn't need to overdo it like that!"

He shrugged. "Sorry. Come on, let's go."

She sighed and took his hand. His Agility technique was a very uncomfortable way to travel but she endured it since he was willing to carry her through it instead of drag her along. It was over in an instant anyway and then she was standing inside Jenny's office, just as she had the last time.

"Officer Jenny," said the Gold Ranger.

She almost had a heart attack. "I wish you guys could just come talk to me like ordinary people."

0 motioned to Serena and she produced several photos for Jenny. "These are photographs taken from a local store. You will see what we were talking about." She passed them to Jenny whose face slowly turned to shock as she looked through the pictures of the Dark Topaz Ranger. 0 produced some light so she could see them.

"What…is this thing?" she asked.

"That," said 0, "is the Dark Topaz Ranger. It is the most recent threat sent by our enemies. As you can see from the pictures, it did a lot of collateral damage."

"This is from that damage report I got today," she said. "I sent it up to major case because I thought it was a terrorist attack like the one in Saffron two years ago." She looked up. "You're saying this was the person responsible for the damage today."

0 nodded. "I do. Does this look like the sort of thing your police force can handle?"

"Sir! My force can handle this and more but-" She paused, and lowered her head "-anything we could do about this would just result in more damage and lives lost. We're trained to investigate murders and robberies, not hunt down things we don't even understand. Just what is this Dark Topaz thing?"

0 looked towards Serena. "How much does she need to know?"

Serena shrugged. "Everything, I guess. Maybe skimp on the identities but that's about it."

"Okay. Jenny, is this a place we could speak in private? The discussion will take some time and I don't want anyone to disturb us."

She nodded. "Of course. Let me just lock my door." Jenny passed the two of them and locked the door. "Talk to me. Tell me everything I need to know to keep my force safe."

The Gold Ranger said, "Good, Jenny. I'm glad to see you can work with us. Please sit down again and I will fill you in." He offered her some light and she did as she was asked. "Simply put, the Dark Topaz Ranger is a member of the Dark Gem Rangers. They are a terrorist group that seeks to eliminate members of our own group."

"And what is your group?" asked Jenny.

"A task force that operates against the Dark Gems. We don't really have a name at the moment. We are, however, equipped with the technology needed to fight them."

"How many of you are there?"

"There are four active members of our team," said 0. "We are the two senior members. Our team consists of myself, Ranger Gold, my partner, Ranger Silver, and two others codenamed Rangers Black and Emerald."

Again Jenny nodded. "And where are they?"

"At an undisclosed location," 0 said. "We trust you, Jenny, but not enough to tell you our base of operations. It keeps both us and you safe for the time being."

"I understand," said Jenny, "but what exactly is it you want me to do?"

At this, 0 snapped his fingers and Serena produced a small, phone-shaped device. "This is for you, Officer Jenny. It is an untraceable communicator between yourself and my team. If at any time you require our assistance all you have to do is use that communicator and we will meet you where you need assistance."

Jenny looked over the device, it looked so similar to a regular touch cell phone, then looked back up. "How do I know I can trust you, Ranger Gold? Or you, Ranger Silver? Or your friends? How do I know you won't turn on us the moment we begin trusting you?"

She reclined in her chair, her hands resting on the communicator.

"You can't," he replied. "I understand that you won't, at first anyway. But you will with time, because we aren't going anywhere Jenny. This war is only just beginning and that you're going to need every scrap of help you can get. I'm offering you a team willing to fight on your side to protect your city. I'm offering you a team that doesn't need training and that knows what they're dealing with.

"I'm offering you a partnership, Jenny. One that will benefit the both of us. We can operate inside your city without your consent, or we can work with you. You can also choose to operate without our assistance and against us, but it would waste time and manpower you will not have."

He held out his hand. She looked at it for a moment, before she finally took it firmly and shook.

"I accept on a trial basis," she said. "But, I want something that will prove your commitment to justice."

"Anything but our identities. What do you want us to do?"

Jenny smiled and reached into her desk. "A few days ago I came across a homicide that took place in the club district of Goldenrod. We get a lot of calls up there so we now have an auxiliary building we lease and fill with cops to deter behavioral problems." She produced a folder and placed it on her desk. "A girl was murdered and we weren't able to solve her case."

"What do you want us to do?" asked Serena.

"Find out who did it. I tried to keep the department working on the case but there just wasn't enough evidence to keep the case open . If you can produce evidence that leads to a conviction I will be satisfied."

0 touched the folder with his hand. "May I keep the file?"

"By all means. If you need my help, you know how to contact me." Jenny smiled and waved her new communicator. "Now I have some tidying up to do. Please go."

0 nodded. "Of course, Jenny," he said and took Serena in his arms. "We'll be in touch."

Another crack of lightning issued and the rangers were gone.

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"We have a situation."

The Gold Ranger waited until his daughter was asleep to summon the others to Ranger Downs. Serena, Max, 415, and May all sat in chairs while 0 took the front of the room, what had once been Bakaguru's position. He felt uncomfortable having four sets of eyes staring at him and the computer screen displaying Pi.

He looked to the computer. "Pi, please show the information Jenny gave me and Silver."

Pi gave a virtual nod and its image was replaced by photos of several pieces of paper. "All yours, 0."

He nodded. "Thanks," he said and turned to the group. "Today we received the cooperation of Goldenrod's police force. They will contact us if there is a disturbance about the Dark Gems and we will work with them to minimize casualties. Thing is, we were asked to perform a good faith mission to show them we can be trusted."

Max half-jokingly raised his hand. "Is this why we needed to have a house meeting, Dad? This couldn't have been casual?"

"Shut up," said 415 and slapped him upside his head. "Go on, Gold."

"The victim's name was Erin Conner," said 0. The computer display changed to a photograph of the girl. "Nineteen years of age, black hair and blue eyes, one hundred and twenty pounds, five feet four inches in height. Found dead in an alley outside of the Goldenrod club district. Lack of evidence has caused the case to be closed and we are being brought in to obtain new evidence for the police."

This time it was 415 who interrupted. "What is so special about this case that it requires our investigations? We should be concentrating our full efforts against the Dark Gems."

"Yes, we should. But we should also focus on building a respecting relationship between the police force and ourselves." And then, 0's face hardened. "But there is more. This photo of Erin was taken several days before her murder. This is the photo taken afterwards."

He nodded again to Pi. "Do I have to show it?" it asked. Its face looked uncomfortable.

"Please, Pi. It's important."

It sighed but relented. May turned her face away almost at once and Max shifted in his seat. 415 looked with interest and Serena with revulsion. Erin's face was completely different and looked like some kind of zombie. Her face was shriveled and shrunken in. Her skin actually appeared to be starting to crack at parts when the skin was too tight against the skull.

"This was taken of her at the scene of the crime by the police. No one knows how she got this way, and no evidence was discovered to explain how she got like this. That's what we've been asked to do."

"What could have done something like that?" asked May. She still refused to look at the screen.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Pi, got any ideas?"

"No, 0," said the Pikachu. "If I guessed I would say that it looks like someone removed the moisture from her body, that's why she looks like a mummy. But how I don't know. There isn't any known method for how this was done though. The level of dehydration is too advanced for the time between the last time she was seen and the time she was found."

"How long was that?" Max asked.

"Five hours. She was found early in the morning by a drunk couple. They were still sober enough to call the police."

0 looked at Pi. "Please…take that picture off. Sorry May."

The picture went off the screen. "It's alright, 0," she said. "So, how are we going to solve this?"

"Solve what?" asked 415. "You're not a ranger. You will not be assisting us."

"That's where you're wrong, 415," said Serena with a grin. "You see, as it happens I figured out exactly where this went down and it's exactly where we're going tomorrow. We will require all five of us to go there. Pi, the next slide please."

Pi complied. The next slide displayed the storefront was far too elaborate to be an ordinary club. It's name, displayed in lavender letters, was _Le Rainbow_, which was what 0 thought was the most clichéd name ever imagined. The front was a massive collage of rainbow drawings of same-sex couples in various stages of passionate embrace. May started giggling with Serena while Max stared with interest at several of the female couples. 0, having already seen the picture, faced the group.

"This mission will require us to obtain covers which will allow us to fit in," said 0. "Since we will be covering a large club, all five of us will have to go." He looked to May. "Is that alright, May?"

She nodded. "Yes, of course. I just want to help that poor girl's family."

"Thanks," he said. "As I was saying, we will all be obtaining covers for tomorrow night. 415 will prepare four additional masks for our usage."

"I will? This is the first I heard about it."

"Is it a problem?"

415 shook her head. "The materials are easy to construct and I have several of them already. It will take me ten hours to program them with identities for us tomorrow."

"Good. Now, because this is a gay club, May and Silver will be going as a couple. Max and I will be going as a secondary team."

"What does 'secondary team' mean?" Max asked.

"That means we are going as an infiltration team. You know how to flirt, right?"

"Yeah…but-"

"No buts. We will be gather information about the people at the club. 415 will be dealing with the women with Silver and May. She will be covering as their friend who has just broken up with her girlfriend and looking for a rebound. We have a perfect cover."

This time it was 415 who raised her hand. "You expect me to play a role like that?"

This caused Max to laugh. "She's got you there, buddy. The only thing she can role play is an emotionless lady."

"That is precisely why she will have to learn to blend in. 415, you are a ranger. Time to start acting like one, starting with lessons in espionage."

"I know espionage, remember how we met? You thought I was a fat male."

"That was not outside your comfort zone. This time you are going to operate within a unit. Do I make myself clear, 415?"

415 rose. "Fine, I will go prepare the masks." She left for her room.

"This is gonna be fun," Serena said with a purr. "Can't wait for tomorrow night. I've been wanting to go dance for a while in a place where guys won't constantly hit on me." She left for bed.

Max grinned. "Fantastic. Just let me know when we're going out. I'll be on lookout." He and 0 normally took turns doing it, since the Dark Gem gave him the ability to operate with two hours of sleep.

"Look at you," said May with a smile. "You're playing the leader role pretty well, 0."

He chuckled. "Think so? Well, I'll get the hang of it someday. Really wish Bakaguru was here, though. He was a natural at this kind of thing."

"Well I think you're doing his job very well." She reached out and took his hand. "Are you coming to bed?"

He nodded, but he didn't move. "May, there's something else I need to tell you."

"What?"

"May, it's about Brock."

"What about Brock?" she asked.

"He…he might be a Dark Gem. Max said that before the Dark Topaz Ranger attacked him, he saw its face. He said it looked like Brock."

"But that's impossible," said May. "He's in Pewter City, he's not here in Goldenrod."

0 didn't answer for a moment. "That's where you're wrong, May. Max and I checked. Brock won a contest and he's been here. There's just no way of knowing."

"But…but it's Brock," said May. "He can't…"

"I know. I don't think so either. But we're going to go scope out Brock's vacation here and see if he's got a Dark Gem. If he doesn't we'll know he's not dangerous but if he does we'll have to see how to handle it. Maybe deal with him like we did with Max, okay? But if the Dark Gems are playing a trick on us we'll have a problem. He's in trouble either way."

They walked up to their bedroom and May said, "I wish things were like they used to be. I wish we didn't have to hide and that you didn't have to fight for our lives every day."

He nodded. "I wish we were back to the way things were too, May. I don't like Sarah having to keep secrets about everything. I wanted her to have a normal childhood and I wanted us to have a normal marriage."

They passed her room and stopped. Sarah was snoring and her sheets were thrown everywhere. "I don't know, 0," said May with a smile. "She looks pretty happy here."

He squeezed her hand. "I am too."

She smiled and kissed him. "Me three."


	30. Morph 30

**Morph Thirty: Dia Wants the Shiny!**

"Is everyone ready?"

0 didn't really recognize the group he was with. _Le Rainbow_'s neon lights illuminated the street and cast the illusion of daytime. He glanced at the moon and consulted the watch on his morpher. It was time. He double checked the mask he was wearing, it felt uncomfortable and warm against his face. It itched too and he couldn't resist the urge to scratch it every now and then.

"Do not do that," 415 ordered. "Scratching and touching the mask damages the fibers and will impair your disguise." She herself had short green hair today with matching eyes. Her body language suggested a quiet girl with a secretive wild side as 0 had ordered and she was wearing the clothing to match. Every part of her screamed chorus girl, except perhaps her voice, which was still rather rough.

"I thought I told you to bring your voice synthesizer to help blend in with your outfit," he said.

"I will not require it."

0 himself couldn't exactly figure out what he was supposed to be. Serena had picked out his outfit and appearance in order to appeal to the majority of the men inside. That was why his hair was short and blond with sunglasses that matched his outfit, which mostly consisted of a flashy shirt and tight pants with designer shoes. For reasons 0 did not understand, he was wearing no underwear. Serena had assured him this was the standard dress of such clubs.

May looked the most nervous. She and Serena were wearing matching outfits so they could pass as a couple. "May," he said. "You don't have to do this."

"I'll be fine," she insisted.

"Yeah," said Serena. "I'll keep an eye on her, but stay close May. This is your first covert job and you don't have a morpher like we do. If there's trouble in there, just bolt okay? You've got your communicator?"

May nodded and touched the Bluetooth-shaped device in her ear. No one ever gave cell phone headsets a second glance.

"I still don't like this," Max said with a grumble. He had been forced into leather jeans, a task that had not been easy, and shoes that looked suspiciously like men's high heels. His shirt was also extremely tight, displaying all his muscles. His hair was red and his sunglasses matched 0's.

"Why not?" Serena asked. "Scared you'll be hit on the most? Or that maybe you'll have to pee?"

Max looked at the building. "No way I'm going near the bathroom in this place, but that's not it. This murder we're checking out, I just don't know if we should be going in there without any kind of plan. We should have checked the place out before coming."

"It's a gay dance club in the club district," said 415. "What's there to check out that wasn't in the police report? There are a few drugs that pass through it, don't drink anything that's opened, and always update your status. It is checked out. Let's go inside."

0 looked at May, he could hardly recognize her. She was in a tight dress with long black hair and dark eyes. He missed her regular face.

"Let's go," he said. The others followed him towards the entrance. Fortunately, the line was nonexistent and they reached the door in under a minute.

There were two people at the door: a bouncer two inches shorter than 0 and a woman with a clipboard. When she saw Serena, 0 was pretty sure the clipboard girl started salivating.

"Are you on the list?" she asked and looked the five of them over. It had been decided in advance by the group Serena would answer that question.

She accomplished this by walking towards the woman in a manner that could melt ice in a glacier. "We're right here," Serena said. This statement was whispered into the woman's ear and Serena made certain she delicately placed her hand just on the woman's bare shoulder. She pointed to a false name on the list and gave the woman a look that could sizzle frozen bacon.

The clipboard girl looked Serena over again and could scarcely contain her drool. "Y-Yes, you seem to be on the list," she said and turned to the giant man. "Let all of them in."

Serena squeezed her shoulder. "Thanks, honey," she said and pecked the girl on the cheek. The group followed her into the club, stunned.

"What?" Serena asked them. They were shown into an elevator which would take them to the main area of the club.

"Absolutely nothing," said 0 wisely.

"That was…" Max stopped right in the middle of his sentence because of the sharp look 0 gave him.

"Typical men," 415 said and smacked Max upside the head. "Try to at least pretend you are attracted to men properly."

"Hitting me doesn't help," Max grumbled and rubbed his scalp.

The group, in unison, silenced when they entered the dancing area. It was like some sort of rainbow Nirvana. Techno music blared from the speaker system throughout the room and a throng of people were converging on the dance floor.

"I'm getting second thoughts about this," Max said.

0 chuckled. "Don't go anywhere near the bathroom."

"Great. And now I have to go."

"I suggest you hold it," said 0 as they advanced to the bar. They ignored the looks and gestures of approval from the dancing men and made it to the bartender, an extremely thin man who had no business wearing the tight dark shirt he had on.

The man winked at 0 and Max. "Can I get you anything, honey?" He admired 0's physique with little regard for 0's privacy.

"Ooh, we're going to need something strong tonight," he muttered. "Three fingers of whiskey, I don't think beer's going to get the job done."

The bartender blinked. "But that's terrible for your complexion. Sure you wouldn't like a nice Cosmo or something tasty?"

"No, I will have something that gets me in a pleasant mood and I will have it now." 0 waited until the bartender complied with the drink request and drained the entire glass in one big gulp. He smacked his lips and smiled. "I feel much better."

"I'll bet you do," said Max before he turned to the bartender. "Could I just get something tasty and cheap?"

The bartender nodded. "My kind of man," he whispered. The drink he produced was red in color and for some reason contained a cherry. The napkin it came on also had a phone number written on it.

"Call me," said the bartender with another wink. Max took the drink carefully and, after a cautious sip, found it to be quite delicious.

They paid the bartender and left. "Looks like someone's popular," 0 said and gently shoved Max with his shoulder.

"Looks like someone's jealous," chided Max.

"Not jealous. After all, I'm the one with the wife and kid." He looked around, but for some reason he couldn't find May or the others. "Hey, where'd Silver take the others?"

"Who knows? Wish I was watching though." The two men broke out into laughter.

"That's my wife and your sister you're talking about too, don't forget that."

The two of them headed away from the dance floor towards some of the men sitting at a couple of the booths by the wall. They ignored the advances of the men waiting in line for the restroom and casually sat down next to a group of guys who seemed to know a lot of the people in the club.

"That guy's probably a good source," 0 said and pointed to one of the men with red hair. "Saw him earlier checking out the people coming inside, think he's looking for the new meat."

"You sure?" Max and 0 had to keep their voices low so that none of the others could hear.

0 nodded. "Gotta be. Flirt with him, see what you can dig up."

"Why me?"

"Caught a glimpse of him earlier. He looked at you a little too long. Just keep the conversation light so he won't invite you into the bathroom."

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May, Serena, and 415 made their way to the other side of the bar where the vast amount of women seemed to be congregating.

"I think the bar's pretty divided," said May.

Serena nodded. "I'm guessing that's because there's not much in common. Gay guys and lesbians don't have much target crossing so for the most part I think the guys stay on one side and the girls on the other. Except for the bisexuals. I suppose they're the only ones that go around on both sides."

"Have we identified a target?" asked 415.

"No. Here's the plan…" As Serena explained they approached the bar and glanced over the menu. "You guys had a chance to take a look at the profile, right? The one 0 had for Erin?"

"Yes," said May.

"Well, we're going to hit on every woman we can find and see if they have any friends that look like Erin. We'll ask about her and get some more info that way."

415 nodded. "Good idea. We should go."

"Hang on. First the drinks. We need to blend in."

The bartender for the women's side was an attractive girl who didn't look a day over twenty-one. "What'll it be?" May couldn't really see her eyes, they seemed to be hiding in between strands of her hair.

"Whiskey," said Serena at once. "Two fingers."

"Vodka cranberry," said 415.

"Water," said May. "Just water."

The girl looked at May oddly. "Is she underage?" she asked.

May laughed. "No, no. I'm just not much of a drinker."

The bartender handed them the drinks and they sat down in a booth.

"May, are you alright?" Serena asked.

"Of course I am. Why would you ask?"

"It's just… May, I've seen you drink before. 0 said that you usually drink something light before dinner like a glass of wine. Is there something wrong May?"

May sipped at her drink and didn't say anything for a moment. "Nothing, Serena. It's just… Serena, I'm late."

Serena's eyes widened. "Wait…what? You're late? As in…_late_ late?"

415 nodded. "That explains it."

Both Serena and May turned to her. "What's explained, 415?" asked May.

"Lately I have noticed a slight change in behavior on behalf of May Birch. You appear to be pale, despite having perfect health. I have also noticed that you seem tired frequently over the past two weeks we have been at Ranger Downs and frequently nauseous for no reason."

All thought of drink and espionage was forgotten at the table. "May," said Serena, "are you pregnant?"

May shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't taken one of those tests to be sure." She lowered her hands and cupped her stomach. "I think I am."

"We gotta find out!" Serena jumped up. "Let's go get a pregnancy test!"

"No!" With considerable force, May managed to get Serena back into the booth. "No. I-we- We need to find that girl's killer. We can do this later."

"Later? May, you could be carrying 0's child right now. Don't you want to find out?"

May nodded. "Of course I do. It's just that-" She stopped and licked her lips. "It's just that another child means that everything will change. I mean, it means that Sarah will have a little brother or sister too, but it means that 0 will have to stay. After I locked 0 out of Sarah's life for three years…he would do anything to make sure that his second child would know him for its whole life."

"But that's wonderful!" exclaimed Serena. "That's what you and he want, isn't it? A whole family. What's another baby?"

"But-" She shook her head and sighed. "Serena, I don't want him to stay with me because he has to. I want him to want this family." She rubbed her belly again.

Serena noticed she was almost on the verge of tears and put a comforting hand on May. "Listen, May. If I know anything about 0, whoever he is now or whoever he was then, it's that he wants a family with you. You know that's all he ever wanted all those years in PKM, don't you? You think he's going to be reluctant now that he's free and he can have that family?"

"It is not that simple." Both women turned to 415, who had remained oddly quiet. "She is not worried about Agent 0 wanting to remain with her. She is worried about what is coming. If 0 knows about the pregnancy, he will allow no further harm to come to May Birch. He will undoubtedly do anything to ensure her safety. The differences between 0 as a warrior and as a husband and father to May and Sarah, respectively, is quite substantial. Either 0 will begin to ignore the investigation and fight less in order to be with May longer and keep her safe, or he will invest all of his time to destroying the Dark Gems as a way of escape and ensuring her safety."

She turned to May and offered a lightening of the expressions on her face. "Am I right?" she asked.

May nodded. "Right now you're so busy dealing with the Dark Gems, I don't want anything to happen to him to distract him from what's going on."

"But it's a baby, May. It could be your and 0's second child."

"It is important, May Birch," said 415. "Regardless of whether you intend to keep Agent 0 in the dark about the child, you need to determine if you are indeed pregnant. If we are to hide this from 0 we will need to begin planning immediately."

"You're pretty gung ho about this 415," said Serena. "What's up?"

"The Gold Ranger is our primary fighter against the Dark Gems," said 415. "If his judgment will be compromised by this child we need to make preparations to protect him. He is stable now, but he could easily slip."

"Slip?" asked May. "What do you mean?"

"During my tenure in the PKM intelligence division I had the opportunity to examine the Gold Ranger's psychological evaluation. Prior to becoming the Gold Ranger 0 was quite mentally unstable. His mind was fractured, but due to his single-minded devotion to his job he was allowed to remain an undercover operative and protect May Birch under various circumstances. It seemed to keep him under the radar. But there is something inside him, we saw it during Ame's attack on PKM Headquarters. There is a primal creature underneath his façade that he will retreat to when under extreme stress."

415 pointed her finger at May. "In all circumstances, this primal state emerges when directly related to you, May Birch, and once with Serena Brine. 0 will do all in his power to ensure the safety of those he has placed under his protection. Increasing the necessity of this protection will increase the likelihood that he will revert to the primal state and be trapped in morph."

"Trapped in morph?" May didn't like the sound of that.

"The Ailed Morpher will, of course, do all in its power to prevent this. But there will come a bridge that 0 will cross that he will not come back from. From studies of his profile and my personal analysis I have seen this to be so. May Birch, he must not be told about the baby, if there even is a baby. We must confirm your pregnancy and make plans. The sooner the better."

"But I thought 0's Ailed Morpher was built specifically to inhibit 0 fusing to it," said Serena.

"It is built to inhibit, not prevent totally. Enough power will cause the fusion, much like in the original morpher and much like the original Golden Ranger."

"And, if he fuses, what happens?" asked May.

"If he fuses it will be permanent and there will be nothing we can do to return him to his original state. Not by any means I have ever researched."

There was silence at the table for a while. All thought of the mission was practically gone and now all any of the women could think about was the baby. May felt tears trickle down her cheek.

"Then, we have to keep it a secret," she whispered and lowered her head. "Why does history keep repeating itself?"

"What's that mean?" asked Serena.

"Don't you see? 0 had to live his life knowing that Sarah didn't know who her father was, and now this little one will have to be a secret too. Why can't I have a normal family, Serena? That's all we ever wanted: to raise a happy, regular family."

"There is no such thing as a happy, regular family," said 415. "It is my understanding that there are happy, irregular families, or even unhappy, irregular families. But the concept of 'regular' is one that is misunderstood and different to all the people of the world."

"She's got a point, May," said Serena. "Regular is overrated, and you gave up regular when you took him back."

"I know…it's just…I always hoped that one day it would be over."

"It will be, May." Serena patted her on the back and smiled. "One day this will all be over and you'll be able to start over."

"But will he?"

"What's that mean?"

May sighed. "For the whole time we've been here, it's only been recently that he's…been himself. He was happy when we were alone, as a family, but he missed it. He missed the action, I know he did. When Ame showed up at Frank and Alice's house, it was when he finally returned. He was his whole self again."

"0 has always been a warrior," said 415. "In his profile it stated that in his youth he had been a Pokemon Trainer, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, he is still the same. The only difference is that he has channeled his basic instincts into a different kind of fighting."

May smiled a little. "I guess you're right…"

Serena sat up. "Hang on, getting something from the man himself." She touched her earpiece and said, "Go ahead, 0. What's going on?" She waited a moment then her posture changed. "Got it. On our way now."

She turned to the other girls and said, "We have a problem."

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0 watched with amusement as Max attempted flirting with the man he had pointed out. Thus far it had been going well, the man kept buying Max drinks. From the amount of alcohol already consumed, Max must have been drunk, but 0 thought he didn't look it.

"Guess the Dark Emerald does a lot more than heal his body," 0 said into his earpiece.

"I think Max said it heals him in every way," said Pi. "I suppose that means it makes sure he can't get drunk or damage his liver. He'll hold anything he's given."

"Wish I had that gift." With a chuckle, 0 finished what was left of his beer and ordered another. "Then I wouldn't have to rely on the serum."

"It also means that he will live until his Dark Emerald is shattered."

"Immortality's a bitch, huh?"

"I wouldn't want it. Life would be meaningless."

0 nodded. "Everything quiet at Ranger Downs?"

"Nothing has tripped the alarms and I just spoke with Sarah to make sure she was okay. She is apparently refusing to go to bed until you get home."

0 laughed. "Tell her to go to bed and I'll wake her up when we finish up here. Looks like we'll be done soon anyway, I think this resource might be tapped."

"Did you speak with the bartender?"

"Yeah, but he didn't really have much to add on."

"When should I let Sarah know you'll be back?"

With a chuckle 0 said, "Right after I finish watching Max feel uncomfortable."

0 waited for a few moments as Pi made the necessary connections to call Ranger Downs and speak to Sarah. 0 made himself busy by enjoying the subtle taste of beer. He had to admit, in a club where the obvious choice of drink involved something usually fruity, they had a good selection of beer.

"Pi, what's taking so long?" he asked.

"Incoming transmission from Ranger Downs. Urgent priority."

0 straightened himself. "Patch it through."

A moment passed. "Daddy?" said the voice on the other end.

"Sarah? What's going on, Sarah?"

Her voice was trembling, 0 could sense his daughter's fear. "Daddy, there's a monster here! Something's inside the house, it says it's coming to get me!"

"Sarah, honey? Where are you?"

"I-I'm inside Ranger Downs," she said.

"Do you know how to lock it down?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do it. We're on our way and we'll be there before you know it. Love you, honey."

"L-Love you too, Daddy." There was a click and then her voice was gone.

"Pi, make certain Ranger Downs isn't compromised. Ready to test the new modifications to the teleporter?"

"The modifications have been completed. I will teleport you when you are ready."

"Then connect me to Silver and 415. We'll need to mobilize now."

Another, crucial moment passed before Serena picked up her receiver. "Silver, don't have time to talk. Sarah's at Ranger Downs and there's a Dark Gem there. Meet us outside. Max will transport May home safely and we're going to teleport once we're together." He clicked the transmission off and went to go get Max.

He hauled Max out of his seat and said, "We gotta go. Dark Gem."

Max nodded and understood at once. "Uh, see ya later," he said to the man. "Friend's got indigestion." He left without giving the man a chance to give him his phone number and they headed outside.

Serena, May, and 415 were already there. Without speaking they headed into an abandoned alleyway.

"May, you're going home with Max." He turned to his former brother-in-law. "Max, there's a good chance there might be more than one of them. Keep her safe until you get word from me to come back. Can you and the Dark Emerald handle that?"

Max nodded. "Yeah. Get going, we'll lay low."

0 then turned to May. "Honey, I need to go save her. You can't be there."

She nodded. "I know, 0. Just make sure she's safe, okay?"

He lifted his thumb. "Count on it. Silver, Black, let's get going."

Both women nodded and stood by his side. Max pulled May away from them, not wanting her to get some kind of side-effect from the teleporter.

"Pi. Fire it up."

Three bright lights flashed and then 0, Serena, and 415 were gone.

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0 did not like the teleportation process. It was annoying and uncomfortable, despite the fact that Bakaguru had designed it to be perfectly pain-free and harmless. Still, the ripping up of his atoms and then their sudden shift in location was a bit psychologically jarring to him. When he opened his eyes, he found himself both in Ranger Downs and in leaping distance of Sarah.

She jumped at him and he caught her. "Sarah, where is it?"

She buried her face in his chest. "Upstairs, Dad. It keeps smashing things in the house."

"How did it get in?" Sarah averted her gaze, but didn't answer him. "Sarah, what happened? How did it get inside?"

"It tricked me. She said she just wanted to play, but when I opened the door she tried to kill me! I got inside Ranger Downs before it could get me."

0 patted his daughter's head. "Okay. It's okay, Sarah. Daddy and his friends will handle this." He growled and cracked his knuckles. "Stay here. We'll go get this."

There was no signal, no command, but all three rangers pressed their transformation buttons at the same time and morphed. 0 waited until his visor was properly displaying before he started walking forward.

"Pi," he said, "keep the Synchronization Drive on standby and prepare for emergency use of the Auxiliary Pokemon System."

"Roger."

Serena had her fans and 415 had her mace. 0 lowered himself down to Sarah's level and said, "Sarah, stay here. Whatever happens, do not move under any circumstances. You stay inside Ranger Downs and you don't come out, got it?"

Sarah nodded. "Uh-huh."

She hid in the corner and 0 led his team up the stairs. "Pi, switch to night vision and cut the power to the house. Whatever this thing is, I don't want it having any advantages." A moment later, the screen turned green and he could see through the darkness of the house.

"Dewgong, the same for me please," said Serena.

415 didn't have to say anything, Luxray knew without needing a request.

The rooms were too small for the Bolt Blade, even in its compact mode, to be used properly, but 0 had enough electric buildup to jumpstart a car if necessary. They proceeded through the house, not knowing what to expect from the monster.

"Kitchen's clear," said Serena as she surveyed the room.

"As is the living room," said 415. "We need to move to the upper level of the house."

They ascended the stairs very carefully, not wanting to alert the creature to their presence. When they reached the sleeping quarters they took it in turns to inspect each room and each closet carefully.

Until at last they reached Sarah's room at the end of the corridor.

"It has to be in there," said 0. "Get ready."

They broke through the door and plunged into the room. When they saw what was inside, 0 gasped in shock.

There was Sarah, tied up in her bed. Her mouth was gagged by she was screaming something 0 couldn't make out, but she was making muffled screams loud enough to let them know she was there.

"Stand down!" be barked and went over to the bed and undid the mouthpiece. What's going on?"

"Dad!" screamed Sarah, wriggling in the restraints. "It got in here and tied me up! Get me out, it's coming!"

"The hell is going on?" asked Serena. The four of them heard something creak on the stairs. Something was coming up.

"415, guard my daughter," 0 growled. His voice practically seethed rage. "Silver, back me up."

They walked out into the hallway. 0's arm crackled with electricity just at the same time they heard the giggling. He growled because, standing at the edge of the stairs, was another Sarah. A smiling, happy Sarah.

"What are you?" 0 asked.

The little girl turned her head to the side and chuckled. "They call me the Dark Diamond Ranger, Golden Boy."

0 watched her wrap her chains around her little, tiny body. Her entire body was covered in them, all save for her head, her feet, and her hands. In those she held a bright stone that seemed to glitter even in darkness and she pressed in against her flesh.

_ "Dark Gem Ignite!"_

The night vision flared as the transformation was complete. Standing before them, in Shattered Form, was the Dark Diamond Ranger. It looked up at them and started shuddering as it chuckled. 0 thought it was remarkable about how much it looked like a miniature Sappho. It had the same claws and the same talon-like legs.

It clicked its claws together. "Ready to play, Daddy?"

"I will kill you!" 0 unleashed the energy directly at the creature. Another flash of light filled the screen. When it was over, the Dark Diamond Ranger was still standing, but now it was just lightly bouncing on its feet.

"Finished? That was a big load wasn't it? My turn!" Before 0 could react, the Dark Diamond Ranger dashed forward and rammed him in the stomach.

0 groaned and all but sank to his feet. He used what little strength he could muster to pick the little girl up and toss her down the stairs. "After her!" he ordered and forced himself to ignore the pain that ripped through his abdomen.

"Gold, it's to the left," said the Black Ranger, who had come despite her orders. She swung her mace just fast enough to send the little monster flying right into a wall. There was a loud crash, but the wall held thanks to its reinforcements.

The creature dropped to the floor and made a sound like it was hacking up a fur ball. It stood up and giggled. "That didn't hurt one bit!" it said with a squeal. "You guys must not be taking me seriously because I'm a little girl. Isn't that right?"

None of the three rangers answered so she said, "That's okay! I'll just kill one of you. Then you'll have to take me seriously!"

"415," said 0. "Go back and guard my daughter like I told you to." He heard her leave and focused some more electricity into his hands. "Silver, with me."

The two of them progressed through the house.

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"It's here."

Max stopped in the center of the alley and sniffed the air. Though he smelt nothing he knew that the Dark Topaz was nearby. Run away, whispered the Dark Emerald through the corners of his mind. May stayed by his side, slightly behind him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"The Dark Topaz," said Max. "The Dark Emerald's afraid of it, so I have to be really careful."

"Can we run?"

Max shook his head. "At short distances it won't matter. If I can sense the Dark Topaz, that thing can sense me. We need to get ready for a fight." Responding to him, the Dark Emerald's chain curled around his arms and across his back, ready for the transformation. "Don't worry, big sis. I don't think it's here to hurt you."

He wasn't sure what made him say that, he just felt that was the truth.

"It won't?"

"Last time it didn't attack us, even though I'm sure it must have wanted to. It only reacts to violence."

A figure emerged on the other side of the alley and walked towards them. It wore a face both Max and May knew very well.

"Brock," said Max.

"What?" asked May.

Brock walked towards them, his face expressionless. Already wound around him was his chain and in his palm was the Dark Topaz.

"What is it with you?" asked Max. "Get out of our way!"

Brock didn't answer verbally. A bright orange glow exploded around him and then the Dark Topaz Ranger stood in his place, muscles tensed and ready for battle. The monster growled and stayed standing still. It only moved when they did, a step forward or a step backward.

"What does he want?"

Max narrowed his eyes. "It wants to keep us here while the monster back at Ranger Downs does whatever it's doing. This thing's just here to baby-sit us." He looked around. "There's gotta be a way out of this."

But there wasn't. From each point that Max considered, there was nothing to be done. They could not proceed ahead, the Dark Topaz took care of that. If they even took a step back, it moved with them, ensuring that there was absolutely no difference in the space that separated them.

"Wait…" He looked up, and therein was an option. "Sis, keep an open mind about this, okay?" Max summoned the Dark Emerald and its chains wrapped around his arms. In response, chains wound around the Dark Topaz's neck and limbs. When Max transformed, the Dark Topaz transformed.

May looked at him. Max didn't move for a while, as his mind adjusted to the Dark Emerald's influence. "You okay?" she asked.

Max turned to her and, in one movement grabbed her and slung her over his shoulders. His arm raised and the chain jumped upward, rising and latching onto a nearby rooftop. Before Top could move, Max blasted upwards and jumped onto the roof.

"Hurry, it's coming!" shouted May. From her position on Max's shoulder, she could see Top as it began to rip through the bricks and mortar that made up the building's wall as it scaled up to meet them. Max growled his understanding of the matter's severity and began moving.

The Dark Topaz Ranger hefted itself up with a lurch and began following them, mute as always. It had not considered the possibility that they would escape upwards. The Dark Emerald Ranger was much more versatile in using its chains. However, it did not matter, for the Dark Topaz Ranger needed only to think of a way to catch up to them.

Very rapidly, its four arms merged into two. The additional muscle mass went into its legs to enhance its speed and jumping capabilities. In next to no time it caught up to its prey.

Max stopped abruptly, just in time to get May out of the way and take a powerful, crushing blow to his chest. Max was thrown back and smashed into the roof's railing and off the edge.

"Max!" shouted May, and she ran towards the ledge to look down. There she saw Max returning rapidly, one of his chains securely attached to what remained of the railing. Max jumped back up over May and landed on all fours in front of her, in between his sister and the monster chasing them.

"_Laaaaade_." May could not understand what he was saying, but the tone, the inflection of his voice, more than convinced her that she never wanted to be on the opposing side of her brother's growl.

But the monster opposing him did nothing. It neither advanced to claim May nor retreat. It simply stared at them through its visor, an immobile giant of horror. For what seemed like an eternity it watched them until, finally, something happened.

A pair of footsteps issued from the fire escape. All three of them turned as one to see the figure of a woman emerge and take her place on the rooftop.

Ame smiled. "Evening," she said in a low voice before she moved towards Top. "Having fun?"

"No," said May. "Tell him to leave us alone. We haven't done anything to you to deserve this."

Ame said, "Oh, contraire, May Birch. That is your name, right, and not the alias May Toby? Your group is responsible for the destruction of two of my staff members and numerous Dark Onyxes. Not to mention the theft of the Dark Emerald." She gestured to Max, who growled and intensified his defensive stance. "You have done many thing to annoy us, May Birch. I would say we are completely in the right to deal with you in this way.

"Now, as for tonight. Tonight you are allowed to live, provided you go nowhere until I say you are allowed to leave. My employers were gracious enough to give you a grace period this time, as there is another matter that needs attending to. My contract is, to the best of my ability, to keep you alive. Here."

"One of your monsters is at my home right now," said May through clenched teeth. "Do you expect me to sit by and do nothing when my daughter's in danger?"

Ame nodded. "I expect you to do exactly that. Not just because your life is guaranteed for tonight if you remain where you are, but because it would be pointless to do anything to stop us from what we are doing. After all, you are May Birch, and not a ranger. You are essentially dead weight that, like your daughter, must be protected as you are now." She gestured to Max. "That dog of yours is quite useful, but it only shows how much your ex-husband thinks of you. Does he trust you to be on your own, or must you always be accompanied?"

May's face flushed. "That has nothing to do with this! Max is my brother, not my bodyguard. My husband loves me and wants me to be safe. There's a difference between being cautious and being restrictive. We know why you're after me and you're not going to get it." Unconsciously, she clenched her fist and rubbed the ring she wore.

Ame lifted her eyes. "Aren't we now? Come May, it must be obvious that, if I wanted that ring right now, it would be mine no questions asked. However, I am reluctant to concede that I cannot break my contract and that you must live through tonight's affairs. Now then, remain there while I wait for Dia to tell me her business is done."

"Is that the monster you set loose in my home?"

"I did not do the 'loosing,' as you call it. My job is simply to follow my contract," said Ame firmly. She turned to Top. "You may revert. There will be no need for your services beyond remaining present."

Top didn't make a motion to convey that he heard, but his armor faded away almost immediately after the order and the blank face of Brock stared at them.

Max transformed back too and rose to his feet. "What is that thing anyway?" he asked and pointed at Top. "Is that Brock? What did you do to him?"

Ame shrugged. "My contract does not say I have to answer that, defect," she said. "What the Dark Topaz Ranger is exactly is not your concern. All you need to know is that it will attack you if you attempt to escape again."

Max growled. "What's your endgame exactly?" he asked. "Just keep torturing our family until we die? Is that all we've got to look forward to?"

"I do not know the endgame, defect, and even if I did the last person I would tell would be you. Why would we tell our master plan to the very people attempting to unravel it?"

Max grinned. "You don't know what it is?" he asked with a smile. "You must not be very important."

"Silence, cur. You do not know either, so don't presume to know anything about my position. I have not been told because it is not part of my contract."

There was silence for quite some time. Max had nothing to say to that and Ame didn't seem to have anything further she wished to divulge. Max returned his attention to the silent, stoic Dark Topaz, who continued to glare at them with such intensity that Max was surprised that he wasn't burnt to a crisp by making eye contact with the monster.

"Why are you doing this?" whispered May. "All I want is for my family to be safe."

Ame sighed. "I was rather enjoying not having to speak to you. As I said, I cannot disobey the contract. The contract says you are to stay alive. You will stay alive. However, a coma is considered technically alive, so do not think I do not have options in how you are to remain that way."

"You wouldn't dare."

Ame lifted her eyebrow. "Do you really think that? I burned your neighbors' house to the ground. I sat calmly in the center of the room while their dead bodies burnt to smoldering crisps. I killed them with poison beforehand and I did it all without blinking. All because it was in my contract, May Birch. Presume nothing about the manner in which I carry out my orders. I will follow it to the letter, but everything not specified is well open to interpretation." She smiled, a kind of slight smile that sent chills through May's skin. "So what will it be? You going to be quiet or should I put you in a persistent vegetative state that will guarantee that my suffering here tonight will be lessened?"

"You harm one hair on my sister's head and so help me I will cut out your throat," said Max.

"Yes, and how will you do that? With a cherry smile and a can-do attitude? You are no more a threat to me than an insect on my wall. You can buzz around and annoy me all you want, but all I need to end you is a newspaper and concentration." She noticed that Max's breathing was getting harder, and several veins were pulsating on his upper body. "Simply adorable. Is little Eme going to cry because I hurt his feelings? Would you like a hug? Or perhaps a knife in your throat so we can take the Dark Emerald and give it to someone who will obey us?"

Max smiled. "Joke's on you, lady. You can't take this thing off of me. Not without shattering it. I die, it dies."

"Yes and therein lies the tragedy of our system. It cannot simply be discarded from an unsuitable person and given to someone we would prefer. Which is why we have contracts. Well, that and we recruit people willing to see our vision of the world. It is a shame that Sap lost it to you, I always thought he was too unstable to work alone but it turns out that everyone we partnered him with ended up dead from either an 'accident' or just flat out murder. Sometimes he would get too lazy to lie to me."

"Well, it's too late. I've got the most powerful Dark Gem, so you can go straight to-"

"The strongest?" Ame interrupted him with a soft, cool chuckle. "No, little boy, you are not the strongest. Even if you were to finally, finally evolve into your Shattered Form, there is always a more powerful Dark Gem. My employers have much more powerful ones at their disposal, and that Dark Gold your sister carries is certainly one of the stronger versions."

"You'll never get it," said May.

"Maybe not today, perhaps not tomorrow, but never is a long time, May Birch. And, despite their best efforts, the cur and his handlers are not enough to stop me. They are barely able to defeat Top here, and I assure you that Top is much, much weaker than I."

Top said nothing.

"He is in Chained Form, but he does not need to grow any stronger. His Dark Gem is special that way, in that he does not need to evolve to grow stronger. In fact, the opposite might occur if he does so. It is much, much better for him to remain like this: mute, loyal, and diligent."

Ame paused to look at her watch. "Hmmm…I believe our time might be up. I will need to make a call." She reached into her coat and pulled out a small gem, the color of which neither Max nor May could see in the bad light of their surroundings. "Are you done?" she asked into the stone, as one would a cell phone.

A response issued moments later. "I have to go now?" it asked. The voice was high, like a little girl's.

Ame nodded. "Yes. Meet us back at the regular place." She lowered the stone and turned to Top. "Let's go."

Top nodded and turned around slowly, giving himself as much time as possible to stare at Max and May. Top and Ame walked away, off the edge of the building. They simply fell down into the streets below. Max ran forward, to catch a glimpse of where they were going, but by the time he reached the other side and peered down they were gone. Vanished.

He turned to May. "They flew the coop. We're alone again."

May smiled. "Good. Then please let's go home. I need to see Sarah and make sure she's okay."

"Sure, yeah," said Max. "But, one thing, sis."

"What?"

Max looked at her. "Y-You're pregnant."

May's eyes widened. "How did you know that?"

"When I was carrying you," he said. "The Dark Emerald felt something, something like a new life, in your body. I felt it too. You're not too far along, the life isn't too much yet, but it's there. You're having another baby."

May looked down. "We weren't sure. I've been feeling sick lately, but I wasn't sure. We were going to check when I got home."

"Does 0 know?"

She shook her head. "No, it was 415 and Serena. We were-" She took a deep breath "-we were thinking it might be a good idea to keep the baby from 0. At least for now."

"What? Why?"

"There's something wrong with his morpher. Serena and 415, especially 415, said it would overstress him and he would end up trapped in morph or something like that."

Max touched his sister's belly. "May, you can't keep something like this from him. You need to tell him the truth. I mean, after all those years away from Sarah? Don't tell me you're going to do the same thing and keep his child away from him again."

May shook her head. "I don't want to either. I want him to love this child just like his loves Sarah, but if it'll hurt him in the end shouldn't I try to protect him from being stuck in morph and this child from knowing that it was the reason he'd be that way forever? This is all so complicated, we should never have had sex. I shouldn't have made him do-"

"Sis?"

"Yeah?"

"That's a little too much information," said Max. "I know where babies come from. Let's let that be all I need to know about your love life."

She giggled. "Oh yeah. Sorry, little brother."

"That's better. Now come on, we'd better get back home. I'm pretty sure that 0's about as worried about you as you are about him."

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There was a hushed silence at Ranger Downs when Max and May arrived at the door. The lights were off, but Max saw several pieces of furniture destroyed.

"All's quiet," he said in a low voice. He focused inside and called on the Dark Emerald. It whispered in his ear that everything was indeed safe, for now. "The Dark Emerald says that there isn't another Dark Gem in there. We can go inside."

"Where is everyone?" asked May.

"Good question," said Max. "Probably downstairs. Let's go." They moved through the abandoned-looking house until they reached the secret passageway that connected to the underground command center.

There 0, Serena, and 415 were waiting for them. In 0's arms was a very tired, sleeping Sarah. May wasted no time and rushed into the arms of her husband.

"She okay," he said softly. He stroked her hair. "She's just tired."

"What happened?"

"The Dark Diamond Ranger. Somehow she got in here and tied up Sarah. We searched for it, but it got out before we could stop it. At least we managed to get here in time to save Sarah."

May nodded. "Poor baby," she whispered and took Sarah in her arms. "Come on, let's get her to bed." 0 nodded and helped her carry the little girl.

Max approached Serena and 415. "You guys okay?" he asked.

Serena nodded. "We're fine, Max."

"Why wouldn't we be?" asked 415.

"How are you holding up?" asked Serena.

Max sighed and leaned against the wall. "Guys, I really need to know something," he said.

"What?"

"The new baby," he said. "How can you guys keep this kind of a secret from 0?"

"So she is pregnant," said 415. "We had not confirmed it. How did you do it?"

"The Dark Emerald," he said.

"Ah. Well, now that we have the pregnancy confirmed, we need to begin putting the plan into motion."

"What plan?" asked Max. "What exactly are you guys doing?"

"We're making a plan for the future," said Serena. "Specifically, 0's future."

"Why doesn't 0 get to know he's having another kid?" Max asked.

"Because it will be dangerous for him to know," said 415. "If he were to discover that May is pregnant again, there is an increased likelihood that 0's emotions will hit a certain critical point. When that critical point is reached, 0 will become trapped in morph."

"Trapped?" asked Max. "Like, he won't be able to go back?"

Serena nodded. "His morpher is the only one with that problem because of the Synchronization Drive. It connects him too deeply to his powers, which means he has to be very careful about his emotions. Tonight was just an example of one of the things that can bring him to the breaking point."

415 nodded. "In a way, PKM was right to separate him from his family. His morpher, even with the Ailed design, is still quite unstable. The critical shift has been pushed back significantly, but it is still present. The new child is only going to complicate things."

"But how?' asked Max. "Sure, it's stressful to think that there's going to be another kid around here, but I don't think-"

"I did not expect you to," said 415. "Consider for a moment the behavior that 0 exhibits in ratio to May and Sarah. There is ferocity there that cannot be surpassed, not by any means we have. He will, conceivably can, do anything necessary to protect his family. He will not stop. As a result, it is impossible to predict when the critical shift will take place, but we must prolong it as long as possible."

"Why? Isn't there a way to reverse it?"

Serena shook her head. "Not by any way we've ever found. Once it happens, he's stuck. Just like the old Golden Ranger and there's nothing we can do about it."

"But he's gonna find out. There's no way he doesn't notice it for long. May's gonna get big and annoying again. When she was pregnant with Sarah, I was pretty sure neither he nor I were gonna last through the nine months."

"Nevertheless, he must. We will think of a better plan."

"You will think…? Who do you think you are, 415? You're not leader here. You're on the same level as me. Even when Gold's not around, Serena takes over."

"First of all, Dark Gem, I am not on the same level as you. Secondly, Serena has already consented to this idea, as has May. We did not expect you to find out because, frankly, I did not believe you had the intelligence to deduce it. Fortunately, I was right in one sense but wrong in the other."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Precisely my point."

"Enough!" shouted Serena. "Look, Max, we need you to keep this under wraps for the time being. Just until we can think of a more permanent way to keep 0 unstressed and normal."

"What if he takes it well?" asked Max.

"Max, you didn't really see 0 before he got back together with May, but I did. I know what kind of person he was before, and it was scary. I was with a man with nothing left to live for, except to make sure that his family was safe. A family that he wasn't a part of. If we tell him now that there's another kid on the way, one of two things will happen: he'll either stay, become overprotective, and trapped in morph or he'll be convinced that this new child won't be safe, leave, and be trapped in morph due to guilt. Either way, we lose him and we get another robot just like the old Golden Ranger."

Max looked down. "I'll…I'll keep it a secret. For now. But sooner or later, he's going to find out on his own and then you'll have to deal with the fact that you lied to the person we're supposed to trust completely. He's our leader, guys. He's the most powerful ranger, he's the senior ranger, and he's the reason we're all here today. He deserves better than this and you know it." He walked out.

"Do you think he'll tell 0?" asked Serena.

415 shook her head. "He may be foolish, but he is a man of his word. Or creature, anyway."

"What's your deal with him anyway?" asked Serena. "He's no different than us."

"He is a Dark Gem," she said simply. "It is only a matter of time, but he will go back to them. Whatever he is doing now makes no difference."

"It makes every difference," said Serena. "He's trying to make the best of a bad situation. You should be nicer to him."

"Why?" asked 415. "Am I ever nice to anyone?"

"You were nice to May earlier. This plan will keep her husband and family together."

"I did that because it makes sense, long term, to keep our best weapon functioning at maximum efficiency. The Gold Ranger is our best weapon and must be protected. The Dark Emerald, on the other hand, is a tool that will saw off our hands if we are not careful. It was designed for the enemy, by the enemy, and with the express intend of damaging our cause. You will of course notice that I do not care what you think because those are the facts about the device used by Max Birch. It does not matter if he is a good, decent man or if he is our comrade and friend. It matters only that Max Birch uses something evil. It does not matter how he uses it now, only that he will use it for evil in the future. We can prolong it all we want, but that is the truth."

"But we have to try to save him, 415," said Serena. "It doesn't matter what he might become, it's who he is now. If we're good to him he'll stay with us. He won't turn his back on us."

"Why not? What always makes you so sure of his loyalty to us?"

Serena smiled. "May's his sister. No one would ever turn on their own family like that. It's just…I can't imagine anyone like that."

415 almost, but not quite, smiled. "That is an interesting theory considering your family situation."

Serena's smile faded. "What did you say?"

"Exactly what I implied. I have read the reports regarding the MIA status of your twin brothers. I have also read the debriefing that was given by you and 0 shortly after your failed retrieval mission. Is that why you are so eager to save Max Birch? Because you think that saving him will make up for the way that your brothers betrayed you?"

Serena looked away. "My brothers…that's not important, 415. What is important is that you need to stop acting the way you do to Max. He's a good man, you said it yourself. He won't turn his back on his sister. He won't turn his back on you, he won't turn his back on me, and he won't turn his back on 0."

"Such an odd feeling it must be, to have trust in others," said 415. "Is it because you have had a family?" She looked into Serena's eyes, searching for an answer. "Is it because this is the only thing close to a family you have, Serena Brine? Let it be known then: I have no need for family. The only man I will ever care for is dead and gone, replaced by someone we must constantly protect from being overwhelmed by his own emotions. Does that sound like I need a family, Serena Brine?"

She turned and walked away, leaving Serena alone with the computer.

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"You are late," said Ame.

The little girl that walked into the hotel room waved her hand with disinterest. "So?" she asked. "It's not like I'm missing anything." She looked towards the large Dark Topaz that sat in a chair next to Ame. "It's not like he can talk."

"Quite. Well, take a seat then. The time has come for your debriefing. Our employers have a new plan that they want to attempt with the two of you."

Dia walked across the room and into the lap of the Dark Topaz. The Dark Topaz lifted his hand and softly, ever so softly, stroked the little girl's hair while she smiled in content. "Tell us what we're supposed to do. I'm getting bored with this city. He is too."

Ame looked up at the Dark Topaz. "How do you know?"

"Because I know, okay? Now spill it. I don't like having to talk to you."

Ame reached into her coat and pulled out a small file. She laid it on the table and passed it to Dia. "Our employers wish for you to begin a more aggressive campaign against Ranger Gold. The fact is that he poses a problem in his current state that we would like taken care of before he gains any more strength."

"What kinda problem?" Dia happily opened the file and flipped through the various documents and pictures.

"His abilities to assume various forms based on his Pokemon. At his current state he is quite useless against the Dark Topaz, but he may learn new abilities our employers would rather he not have the advantage of learning."

"How are we supposed to do that?"

"Trap him in morph," Ame said with a smile. "We believe that we are in a unique position now to severely impact his ability to gain new power by trapping him permanently in morph. The resulting strain of being trapped will drain his power, forcing him into a point where it will become quite easy to defeat him and obtain the Dark Gold from May Birch and Ranger Gold."

"What about the other ones? There's four of them!"

Ame laughed. "But you have yourself and the Dark Topaz. Surely that is enough."

Dia looked up into Top's blank face. "Think we can take them?" He said nothing back, but Dia smiled and lowered her gaze to Ame. "How do we do it?"

"This plan will work in accordance with your own skills, Dia," said Ame. "We need Ranger Gold trapped in morph, and the only thing that will do that is severe emotional stress. Ranger Gold needs to be stressed."

"And the best way to a man's heart is through his family, right? That's why I had to go find the Sarah girl, right?"

Ame nodded. "Right. If you strike him where he hurts the most, he will have no choice but to strain his morpher enough to trap him. He is too emotional."

"He's a real wuss, huh?" asked Dia with a giggle. "He got sooooo angry when I came in and tied up his daughter like that."

"I imagine so."

"I still want her though, Ame. I need her."

Ame smiled and said, "Of course, Dia. My contract says nothing about depriving you of your favorite hunt. Actually, the contract states that all of them are to be eliminated. I am sure our employers don't care how this takes place."

"Good. I get to eat her! I'm so hungry, I haven't eaten in so long…"

"Eat her quietly though. The last time there was severe collateral damage."

"Oh yeah, nobody'll catch me, Ame. I promise. I'll just make Sarah disappear!"

Ame looked to Top. "I trust you will handle the heavy lifting after she has started the attack. Dia is not quite as powerful because of her age."

Dia giggled. "Don't worry, Ame. Daddy'll protect me. Won't you, Daddy?" She looked up and smiled, displaying both sets of pearly white teeth.

Top finally reacted and looked down at his daughter. There was a soft, tender expression in his eyes. He resumed stroking her hair.

Dia looked back to Ame. "Daddy's a monster to people that try to hurt me. Daddy would do anything to save me. Wouldn't you, Daddy?" Top kept brushing her hair. "If I was ever dying, Daddy would do anything to keep me going, and now that we have these Dark Gems, we'll keep going forever and ever, just like this. Won't we Daddy?"

The monster kept stroking her hair while she laughed and laughed and laughed. Ame, her contract completed, rose and left the room, shutting the door behind her. She walked down the stairs and, as if by magic, simply vanished into nothingness. Dia's cackling, however, continued to howl into the night.


	31. Morph 31

**Morph Thirty-One: Trapped…**

There was a distinct lack of sensation.

0 looked at his arm. It was ordinary, save for the fact that it was covered in his ranger armor. He looked at his chest; it bore the strange little emblem of Pikachu's face across his pectorals down to his bellybutton. The rest of his body was the same, a mix-and-match of gold and black. There was a puddle in the field. He walked to it slowly, completely uninterested in anything else. All around him, people were shouting, waiting, for him to do something.

All that mattered was the puddle. He lowered his head and looked at himself. A mask stared back.

It was his face. What lied beneath, that was gone. Somehow, he sensed that. His cheeks, his eyes, his nose and lips…they should be there. But they weren't. He was aware of something moving as he twisted his face into a snarl, but it wasn't the muscles underneath the tanned skin he'd once had. That was gone, too. He wasn't sure why, but it was gone.

And all that was left was rage. Rage that, though it couldn't be expressed by the visor that was his face, was apparent from the way his suit trembled. His fingers clenched, forming fists that quivered as he turned around to face the creature that had done this.

The Dark Topaz Ranger. Never had 0 felt something so pure, so complete, as the hatred that boiled through what had once been his veins. Once, he thought, he'd felt something like it. _I was holding someone. A bundle of pure love_. It was nothing, _nothing_, compared to the pure rage he felt for Top. He wanted the creature dead. He wanted it ended. He wanted the heaving behemoth torn limb from limb, the gem that gave it its power crushed and turned to dust in the rainstorm.

He roared, a primal scream that tore through the thunder and the lightning, and 0 smelt fear all around him. Perhaps not from the Dark Topaz Ranger, who was merely wary of his animalistic hate, but from the tiny Rangerlings that crowded around it. 0 barely registered them. Those were insects worming around the husk of the true threat, the thing that dared to touch what was his.

The thing that dared harm Sarah.

"0! 0! You have to fight it!" There was a sound in his head, it seemed so irrelevant. "There's still time, you can still change back!" That made 0 laugh. There was no going back. There was no happy ending, or joy, or pleasure waiting for him. It had all been a lie. PKM had promised him the chance to protect his family, and ripped it away. Bakaguru had promised to give him back his family, and in return had only brought the enemy that much closer to him. Serena, Max, 415, they'd sworn to defend each other to the very end, and once again they were useless.

"Once again, it's my job to fix _everything_," 0 growled. At least Logan and Karin had been honest and took off. Who knew where they were, probably safe with nothing trying to murder them every single day.

There was a little girl on the field. Her, 0 knew. There was no mistaking it. The entire battle had ground to a halt, like it was some sort of movie, just to watch him approach her. There was an arm sprouting from Max's mangled form, but even 415 and the Rangerlings had stopped fighting over him to watch 0.

He reached the little girl, and picked her up. She was hurt. Nothing was broken, maybe a few bruised ribs, but nothing that wouldn't heal. 0 touched her face, careful to avoid the damage on the left side of her face, just below her eye. He shifted her hair so it wasn't touching her mostly-purple face.

The girl's eyes fluttered open. It must have hurt, and she winced several times, but she finally got her right eye open to look at him. She couldn't smile, but her voice was assuring. "D-D-Daddy?" she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear it.

He nodded. "Yes, little girl?"

"I…I'm hurt." She tried to cough, but a little blood dribbled down her chin. "D-Daddy, it hurts." She had started to cry, somehow ignoring all the damage they'd done to her face. "Please make it stop, D-Daddy. I think…" She paused, so she could cough again. 0 held her close. "I think… Is this dy-d-dying?"

0 tried to chuckle, but the part of his body where his vocal chords should have been were disappearing. He still managed to speak. "No, Sarah. Everything's okay. Just a few bruises, nothing worse than falling off your bike. We'll take you inside, wash you off, and 415'll clean you right up. Get you a big Band-Aid for being such a brave little girl."

She tried to nod, but she was too tired. "G-Good. I'd…I'd miss you and Mommy." Then her eyes closed and she stopped coughing.

0 lifted his head. She was still breathing, but only just. "May!" he shouted. "May!"

From the ground, where she'd been lying in pain, May Birch stood up in the rain-soaked field. She crawled past the Rangerlings, past Top and even Dia, until she reached where 0 cradled their child and took her from him.

As she steadied her new weight, she looked at him. She felt something, something so terrifying, that for a second she was afraid. "0?" she asked. "Are you…?"

He nodded slowly. "I think so. Pi isn't sure, but I think so."

"0, I—"

He cut her off. "No time. Get her inside and lock yourselves in Ranger Downs. There's medical equipment in there. Use it. I'll send Pi to help." She didn't move, she just stared at him. "Go! We don't have time for this!" She ran, and 0 was left alone. Even the voice in his helmet left, because Pi never needed to be told where he was needed. The door shut behind them, and no one dared follow.

The last link left him. He couldn't even feel the rain as it fell against the fabric of his uniform. He couldn't feel the breeze that swept the battlefield. As he screamed, he noticed that there wasn't any air in his lungs, in fact he wasn't altogether sure where his lungs were. As he ran into battle, he stopped sensing his boots absorbing the shock of his legs hitting the ground.

There was one last feeling, one hate sensation, one last goal, that swept through what was now his body and made him feel whole.

_I'm going to kill you all._

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There was a soft whirling hum that gradually died down.

"The analysis is complete, Ranger Gold," said 415. "You may disengage your morpher from the scanner."

0 nodded and gingerly removed his arm from what looked like a miniature MRA machine. It was a machine, built on Bakaguru's schematics and 415's technical expertise, that they had been using to monitor his morpher.

"What's the prognosis?" he asked. He lightly massaged around his wrist.

"One moment. The information is being printed." 0 waited for another machine to spit out paper, which also took some time. When it finally coughed up the data, 415 snatched it up and studied it again.

"Can I please see how the morpher's doing?" 0 asked.

415 glanced at him briefly over the documents. "I am ascertaining accuracy. I am also checking to see if our other morphers might not benefit from such analysis. Cease your pestering, it will not make my research go faster." She returned to work and, ten minutes later, looked up with what seemed to be a content expression on her mask-face. She brushed a red hair from her eyes. "Now it is done."

"And?"

"The data is mixed. On one hand, it notes that the morpher is beginning to adjust for the extra uses of your ranger system. Your uses of Lucario and Torkoal have increased, and the morpher seems to be learning to accommodate them without continuous usage overloading the system and forcing a demorph during battle. This is good, as it means that our Ailed Morphers might be evolving as well. It warrants further study on my morpher and the morpher of Serena Brine."

He nodded. "Makes sense. And what's the bad news?"

She pointed to a chart on one of the documents that made no sense to 0. "Your morpher is making these adjustments by bonding to you. It is gradual, and there have been no noticeable changes, but its acceptance of you is resulting in you becoming more merged with the technology. There is a possibility that, as the morpher continues to evolve to suit your needs, it may become a permanent bonding."

"So trapped in morph, like the former 0 was."

"Somewhat, yes. The morpher will not force such an extreme transformation without an extreme catalyst for the morph. Say there is a great deal of anger. Were you to morph in such a state, the psychological effects could extend to the morpher and bond you. Mind you, such as transformation would require an exceeding amount of rage the likes of which—"

0 raised his hand. "I get it. No getting angry when I'm about to morph. Keep my emotions clear."

"You say that like it is something you are physically capable of. Were I able to wager, I would place a bet on you being trapped in morph within the year. You are not one for restraint."

"Maybe I'll take up yoga."

"And maybe the mongrel will state something of significance. The point is hypothetical speculation, particularly impossible hypothetical speculation, wastes everyone's time. Dreams are for sleep."

"Speaking of." 0 glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just after midnight. "Shouldn't you be going to sleep? Big day tomorrow. Er, today."

"For you, perhaps. For me, it is another day of simulations. I am not assigned to above ground cover for your children event."

0 nodded. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to get out once in a while. Fresh air is good for people."

"Most people. My appearance changes daily. There is no point in getting to know anyone outside of the group, there is no way to explain my appearance in a way that would remove our cover."

"Well, about that. Why don't you just drop the disguise? We're not undercover in PKM anymore. We're our own group. You could go out, make friends, relax."

She looked up from her work, and her red eyes gave him one of the coldest expressions he'd ever seen. "My appearance is not your concern, Ranger Gold, and the last time I checked, it is not a subject you have say over." She returned to her research.

"I wasn't suggesting that I did have say over it. I just thought—"

She raised her hand and looked up. "Clearly you were not, otherwise you would have kept silent. It is not your concern, Ranger Gold, what I look like under my mask. It is not May Birch's concern, nor the Dark Gem's concern, nor Serena Brine's concern, nor the concern of your daughter. It will never be any of your concerns, so why not spend a bit more time admiring your wife's face instead of complaining about my refusal to—?"

She cut herself off, breathing a bit more unevenly than usual. Her mask seemed to mimic her embarrassment, because its cheeks tinged red briefly. Then it vanished, and she regained her composure.

"You're right, 415," he said. "It isn't my concern, is it? Just thought it might be nice for you not to hide anymore. We're not part of PKM. You're allowed to be yourself once in a while, and not just a ranger."

"This is myself, Ranger Gold. There is nothing deeper."

He nodded. "Sure, whatever. Get some sleep anyway, never know when the Dark Gems are going to start smashing through the city."

"Of course," she said, but he had already started heading upstairs. If he heard, he did not react, so 415 returned to her work.

The laboratory was quiet, aside from the occasional whirl and hum from the machines. She tried to work, but found herself distracted. Again and again she turned to a reflective screen on a nearby monitor, touching pieces of her mask. Every now and then she would shift it, just to be certain it was still there. She went through seven different eye colors and three styles of hair before she heard a set of footsteps on the stairs.

She firmly stared at her research. "If you are here to apologize, Ranger Gold, I am not interested in—"

"Wrong guy, 415." It was Max. Of course it was Max, of all the times for him to visit. "I couldn't sleep, so I started wandering the house. I saw the lights were on down here and thought it might be someone working late in need of some company."

"You were incorrect in your assessment. I am working late but I have no need for your company. I am extremely busy and your presence is always a distraction."

"Is that a compliment?"

"If you consider your mental inferiority and lack of use a compliment. Dark Gem, I am not in any mood to placate your need for attention."

"Hey, you're using my name now. Have you decided I'm a human being?"

"Not as such. It is more convenient."

"Another thing. Since when do you have moods? I thought you had two modes- mean and asleep. Are you starting to get a little bit more normal on us?" Max grinned, but when 415 dropped her research, his smile faded instantly.

"Why is everyone so obsessed with my personal life?" she demanded. She walked away from her machines and started towards him. He tried to turn and leave, but she grabbed his hair and held him in a vicegrip. "Tell me, what is the reason behind your incessant need to spend time with me? Why do you, and everyone else here, insist on bothering me? When I worked undercover, I was alone. No one had any need to disturb me. It was paradise compared to this arrangement."

Max strained, but 415 had always been stronger than him out of morph. "That's because we're a team, moron."

"Who is the one in the vicegrip? You are the moron here."

"And you're the idiot that can't figure out how important she is to this team." He jabbed her sharply in the ribs, and in her distraction she released him. "I know nothing about you, 415. I don't know your name, your family, anything about you before I met you through PKM. All we know is that the Golden Ranger was like a father to you, right? That's why you got so mad at 0. And you know what?" He was panting at this point and his face had turned into a sharp reddish hue.

"What?" she hissed.

"I don't care. None of us do. You think we care about seeing your face? It won't be your face. Not the one you have that changes every day, the ones that are yours. You think I'll never call you anything other than 415, even if your rank is technically 4 now? Your name doesn't matter, nothing about you matters, except the fact that you think you can just put up a shield around yourself like you're still an undercover agent when you're supposed to be part of our team."

She punched him in the face. He barely noticed, so she did it again, and then a third time for good measure. "I am a ranger. Your points are meaningless. I perform my duties and functions. That is all that is needed."

He shook his head as a black eye healed. "Wrong. What matters is that this team is like a family, and you're not some unwanted stepkid. You don't need to act like some kind of living wall around us. We just want you to be part of this family, and the fact that you're reacting this way just proves you're getting defensive because you know I'm right."

"You are wrong." 415 grabbed him, threw him to the floor, and set her heel against his windpipe. "I told you I was in no mood to discuss this. I specifically told you that, and you decided you would ignore my order." She dug her heel in deeper and Max began gasping for air. "Besides, your sentimentality is filled with lies."

"What're you…talking 'bout?"

"I know what you want of me, Dark Gem. I am aware of your heart palpitations in my presence, your direct attempts at socialization with me, even your endeavors to curry my favor. I have studied you, noticed when these correlations intersect with the Dark Emerald, and have concluded you are in love with me."

"I have no idea—"

"Data cannot lie! I know what you are trying to do." He definitely couldn't breathe anymore, he was fighting to stay conscious. "I know what these are. Mating rituals. Courtship. 'Dating', as the common vernacular calls it. Things I have never wanted and will never need." She felt his final spasm before he died.

"I have neither heart to give nor soul to receive in return," she said to no one. "Your attempts are futile." She removed her foot and began picking up her work.

When she stood back up, he was alive again and breathing heavily. "Believe what you wanna believe," he said. He dusted off his pants. "Doesn't change the fact that everyone, not just me, would take a bullet for you in a heartbeat. We'd die for each other, because that's what families do, and you're a part of this one whether you like it or not. So get used to us trying to get close to you, 415. That's what families do, and we're all we've got."

He left her and went upstairs. He still wasn't sleepy, but couldn't stay in that room anymore.

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Serena woke up. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand and discovered it was seven in the morning. Too early, always too early, for people to be awake.

Sadly, she was alone when she woke up. This stemmed from the fact that overnight guests, or really any guests, were prohibited from entering Ranger Downs. 0 had been very clear about that rule the first night when she'd thought she could bring a cute guy home, a guy who ended up screaming and running away in terror when he got a look at 0's expression when he stepped onto the porch.

She slipped out of her sheets with nothing but a shirt on, so she found some sweat pants to wear and rubbed her eyes. It was just getting bright outside and she caught a glimpse of some Pidgey flying east over some of the houses in the distance. "Nice day," she murmured and headed out to the hallway. "Too bad I'm on monitor duty."

She passed by Sarah's bedroom and stepped inside. May's daughter was still tucked in her bed snoozing. Serena chuckled, Sarah frequently had difficulty getting up in the morning and rarely got up without prompting before nine. Since May hadn't gotten here yet, Serena headed over to Sarah's bed and poked the little girl's head.

Sarah groaned and rolled over. "Go away," she mumbled. "Sleepy."

Serena giggled. "Come on, Sarah. I'm pretty sure your mom and dad wants you up early for the events today. Aren't you doing the basketball tournament?"

The little girl refused to open her eyes. "Nope! I'm staying in bed!" She scurried under the covers.

"But Lu and Tork'll miss you if you're not ready," Serena said. "You don't want to disappoint them, do you?"

Sarah peeked out from under the cover. "No. Just sleepy is all."

Serena laughed and tickled her. "Come on, Sarah! Get yourself moving!" The little girl squealed with laughter and threw the covers off trying to get away from her.

"Serena? Sarah?" Both looked up to see May leaning against the doorway with a big grin on her face. "Having fun horsing around?"

Serena blushed. "Sarah here doesn't seem to want to get up. I was just trying to motivate her to get ready for her big day."

"Uh-huh." May turned to Sarah and crossed her arms. "And why aren't you listening to Serena? You know you're supposed to be up at seven every day, little girl."

"But I wanna sleep in, Mom. I couldn't sleep last night and I'm still sleepy."

May smiled and sat down on the bed with the others. "Doesn't matter, sweetie. Still gotta get up. Big kids show how responsible they are by following the rules their parents make. So go get some breakfast. I think your Dad's making some pancakes."

Sarah shot up. "Pancakes?" she asked hopefully.

May nodded and sniffed the air. "I saw him pouring the batter before I came upstairs. If you hurry you can probably get to the first batch before your Uncle Max eats all of them."

"Okay!" Sarah shouted.

"But first thank Serena for waking you up."

Sarah turned to Serena and hugged her. "Thanks, Aunt Serry!" she said, then galloped downstairs.

Serena watched her go and turned to May. "Aunt Serry? Since when?" she asked.

May shrugged. "You're part of the family. And you've been helping with her. Why not?"

She chuckled. "Just that I remember how we met, and neither one of us liked the other."

"To be fair," said May, "you were in love with my husband. And I was mad at my husband. And he was dying. And everything was a mess."

"Oh yeah. Hey, don't think I've given up on him." The two of them shared a laugh. "How is his shoulder doing?"

"I barely notice it. It didn't really have much of an impact on him and he never really brings it up. I guess it's fine."

"So, how are you two doing?"

May smiled. "I think we're doing really well. He did really great readapting to family life while you all were away for the year. And the lull managed to give him and Sarah time to bond. She's still my little girl, but I think it's more balanced. She's letting him in."

"That's good. When I was working with him, that was his big problem. He really missed being a dad."

May smirked. "Do I detect a little bit of jealousy in your voice?"

"How do you mean?" Serena asked.

"I was just wondering if you might be having a little maternal moment thanks to Sarah."

Serena giggled. "Maybe a little bit, but I'm not really the motherly type. I'm more of the 'I miss getting some strange on a regular basis' type."

"Want me to set you up with Max? I mean, he's my brother and all, but he's a nice guy. All of his old girlfriends spoke highly of him."

Serena shook her head. "No thanks. I'm pretty sure 415 would rip my head off if I tried to move in on her man."

May laughed. "She can be really odd with him sometimes." She stood up and checked outside the door to make sure 415 was not around to hear their gossip, then returned to the bed. "I think she just wasn't taught how to do the whole relationship business."

"Well, from what I learned in PKM, she was brought up by the Golden Ranger, so that sort of makes sense. 0 never liked to talk about him, but the Golden Ranger really didn't have time for those sorts of things. He might have just forgotten to clue her in on how to deal with boys outside of ripping their necks out."

"Maybe we should help her. I think Max might like her too, but he's about as dense as 0 is when it comes to romance." At this, both women cackled hysterically.

"So, pancakes?" asked Serena.

"Pancakes. Right. We'd better get down there before Sarah eats them all."

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Brock Harrison woke up.

He gazed out of his palatial bedroom and towards a large window to his left. The skyline of Goldenrod City was beautiful in the morning. It was much nicer than the one over Pewter, which tended to be mostly industrial buildings. Here, tall skyscrapers dominated the landscape, each a different color, shape, and size. He yawned and stretched, then got up and headed over to the phone on the other side of the room.

He dialed the reception desk. "Hello?" asked a friendly-sounded woman on the other end.

"Hi," he said. "This is Dr. Harrison in 3310. I was wondering if I could get some room service for breakfast."

"Certainly, sir. What would you like?"

"Uh…" He glanced over a small menu on an adjacent table. "Could I have the Kanto Continental with extra bacon, please?"

"Kanto Continental with extra bacon? Certainly sir. Will that be all?"

"I wouldn't say no to some scrambled eggs and freshly squeezed orange juice on the side."

"We'll have that up for you as soon as possible, Dr. Harrison. Shouldn't be more than twenty minutes."

"Great! I'll see you then. Thanks."

"You're very welcome, sir."

Brock hung up the phone and grinned. Today was going to be awesome, no questions about it. It was his last full day on his vacation. Tomorrow, he'd fly back to his regular life in Pewter City and return to the Pokemon Center to work with Nurse Joy, but today he was going to live it up like a big shot.

He jumped in the shower to groom himself properly for his big day. He shampooed his hair with the most expensive brand the hotel had, anointed his skin with fancy fragrances he would never had allowed near himself back home, and shaved a little stubble that had been growing under his chin. When he was finished, he wrapped a robe around his body and returned to his bed. He watched some morning news until someone knocked on his door.

It was the waiter with his breakfast. "Good morning, sir," said the young man as he wheeled in the rather large meal Brock had ordered. He opened the tray. "I take it everything is to your liking?"

Brock stared at the tray like he might a rather attractive woman. It had everything: freshly baked blueberry muffins, soft pancakes, and plenty of bacon. On the side, he saw a batch of scrambled eggs, lightly salted. An entire pitcher of orange juice stood to the side of his tray.

"It's perfect, thank you," he said, and gave the waiter a generous tip for the speedy service. The waiter tipped his hat then headed out. Brock settled into his breakfast and pulled out a newspaper.

As he ate his way through a mountain of food, he started noticing some odd things in the news. It all seemed to be ranger this and ranger that, and it made no sense. He'd heard something about the rangers that were around the city, but he hadn't personally gotten the chance to see any of them. He'd been shopping in a store where one attack had happened, but by the time he had gotten to where they were, the rangers had already left behind a giant mess to clean up.

When Brock finished his breakfast, he decided to spend the day out in Goldenrod City before the musical at the theater that night. He dressed casually, with a light jacket and work boots, before he left the room and headed down the elevator. As he passed through the main lobby he waved to some of the employees he knew and ducked out into the street.

Even the streets of Goldenrod were different from Pewter. Everyone was out and about, nobody ever seemed to be stopping in one place for too long. Brock watched a couple stop in a coffee shop, pause for a bagel from a cart on the road, and eat both as they crossed the street, all in the span of a minute. He decided to follow their example and grab a cup of coffee for his excursion. Another difference between Goldenrod and Pewter he noticed was that the coffee cost three times as much here.

He headed into the northern districts, interested in the possibility to running into Whitney again. It'd been a while since he'd seen her, maybe two or three years. They used to run into each other all the time at Gym Leader conferences, but since his switch to medicine Forrest had taken over most of those duties. He headed passed the department store and, with the help of a map on his phone, managed to finally find the gym.

It hadn't changed much since the last time he'd been there, and from the looks of the outside it was still active. He could hear some shouting going on inside so he stepped through the gym's entrance.

The aesthetics were very western. The walls were a hardened wood, matching the floor. Brock's shoes clattered against the floor as he headed into the main room, which was mostly the same save for the battlefield itself, which was composed of soft soil with fresh grass. There was a battle already going on, so Brock leaned against a wall and settled in to watch the fight.

"Milty, Rollout!" Whitney shouted. She pointed in the direction of her opponent's Darmanitan. The Miltank nodded and curled itself up into a fat ball and began rolling all over the arena to build up traction. The Darmanitan was confused and scratched its flaming eyebrows.

"Darmanitan, Belly Drum!" shouted the challenger, a woman with gigantic glasses. Darmanitan obeyed and pounded away at its stomach. It smashed its fists thrice, glowed red briefly, and groaned from a surge of power that exploded from its body. "Track Miltank!" The Darmanitan watched the ball of fat keep rolling. Its rotations were speeding up, it was only a matter of time before it would be strong enough to strike.

"Now, Milty!" shouted Whitney. "Finish it off!" The cow mooed and began charging towards Darmanitan.

"Darmanitan, Superpower!" the challenger ordered.

"_Darmanitan_!" it roared. Its body glowed a violent blue and it turned to the rolling Miltank. It raised both its fists and smashed into the soft dirt.

For an instant, nothing happened. Then, a giant clap of thunder exploded through the air and the ground shook. Shockwaves blasted through the ground and slammed into Miltank, cancelling its Rollout and tossing it into the air. It mooed its name in confusion, but the challenger did not let up. "Darmanitan, Flare Blitz!"

Breathing heavily, the Darmanitan vomited up flames from its gullet to set itself on fire. It crouched, waiting for Miltank to start falling, then launched itself right at it. Brock fanned himself as the heat coming off Darmanitan's body started to affect the weather inside the gym. Darmanitan drew back a fist and connected, driving its knuckles deep into Miltank's chest. The cow traveled through the air and crashed into a wall.

It could not get up. It cried pitifully than fell unconscious. Whitney shouted and bolted to Milty's side. She screamed when she got close.

"Help! Help!" she cried. "Milty's hurt!"

The Darmanitan and the challenger got there first, but Brock was already moving. He jumped across the field and was instantly by the Pokemon's side.

Whitney turned to him. "Brock? What're you—"

"No time," he said. "This is bad. You mind if I take a look?"

"N-No, please."

Brock nodded and surveyed the damage. It was not promising. Milty's body wasn't on fire anymore, but there were burns on the left side of its body just above the udder. He could see how bad the skin had seared. The burn had even gotten down into the muscle tissue. He thought he saw part of the lining of Milty's first stomach.

He checked its pulse, which was elevated, and its breathing, which was steady. "It's going into shock," he said. "Do you have anything here to help? Potions? Burn Heals? First aid?"

Whitney shook her head. "We ran out last week! I meant to restock the cupboard, but I've had so many challengers that I forgot." She was starting to cry.

He nodded. "Don't panic, we can still help her." He took out two Pokeballs. "Chansey, Swampert, let's go!" The balls exploded and two Pokemon, one that looked like a fat pink oval and another that looked like a blue catfish with legs, emerged. "Swampert, I'm going to need some cool water to soothe some of these burns. Chansey, Healing Pulse. We've got to get Milty back to normal."

Chansey nodded and immediately began channeling psychic energy. It placed its paws on the egg it carried around in its pocket and a ball of pink energy started forming in front of it. Wasting no time, the ball moved away from Chansey and over Milty. It scattered into thousands of little pink particles that covered Milty. The Miltank moaned and opened its eyes feebly.

Brock placed two fingers on its neck. "Pulse is getting back to normal," said Brock. "Chansey, be ready with another one of those in case we need it. Swampert, water please."

The giant Swampert nodded and towered over the little cow. It opened its mouth and a steady stream of water started trickling out over Milty's skin. The burn twitched, and Milty mooed in protest, but Brock held it down with Darmanitan's help.

"Next, does anyone have a Pokemon with teleport?" he asked.

"I don't," said Whitney.

The challenger nodded. "I do. Elgyem, go!" She released another Pokemon, a grey little humanoid, which looked towards them with its beady green eyes awaiting orders.

Brock turned to it. "Elgyem, I need you to take this." He dug into his pocket and withdrew all the money he had on him. "Go to the department store and buy a Full Restore. Go immediately and get back as soon as you can. Do you understand?"

Elgyem looked at its trainer, who nodded her consent. It glowed white, then suddenly vanished.

There was nothing to do but wait. Brock monitored Miltank's condition and kept Whitney calm.

"Couldn't we just take Milty to the Pokemon Center?" she asked.

Brock shook his head. "Injuries like this, you really can't. The technology that puts the Pokemon into its Pokeball won't heal this kind of damage, so it'll just fester. The damage needed immediate attention. Chansey, hit Milty with another Heal Pulse. It's losing a lot of color again."

Chansey complied. "Whitney, I am so, so sorry," said the challenger. "We didn't mean for this to happen." Behind her, Darmanitan slowly nodded its head. It dragged its knuckles on the ground in an expression of regret.

Whitney waved her hand. "It's not your fault, Christie. You didn't mean to do it. We were just lucky Leader Brock was passing through."

Brock grinned. "Actually, it's Dr. Harrison now. Hence why Milty's going to be fine. Aren't you, girl?" Milty mooed softly and nodded its head slowly. "Besides, I might have just done it so I could hit on the both of you once Milty's back on her hooves."

"Haven't changed a bit since I saw you last," said Whitney. There was a sudden flash of light and Elgyem reemerged with a vial of Full Restore.

"Good work," said Brock. "Got any change for me?" Elgyem shrugged its shoulders and Brock forgot about it. "No worries, let's just get this done. Swampert, hold Milty down. She's not going to like this."

Swampert nodded and held the Miltank down firmly. Brock aimed the spray bottle carefully and applied the medicine to the affected area. It screamed and thrashed, but Brock ignored it and emptied the whole bottle into the burn. Milty slowly stopped struggling as the wound closed up and new skin formed over the burn. It was still breathing heavily.

"She'll make a full recovery," said Brock as he wiped his brow. "Close one, though. She wouldn't have made it to the Pokemon Center, especially with your navigational skills. Remember the time we got lost in the—"

Brock stopped talking because Whitney threw herself around him in a giant hug. Brock ignored his baser instincts and returned the hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she shouted with glee. "I couldn't bear the thought of losing poor Milty!"

He patted her head. "It's okay. She's fine, and I'm sure…Christie, is it? Yeah, Christie will use a little more restraint next time she's in a fight."

Christie nodded her reddened cheeks. "I'm really sorry about all this."

"These things happen," said Brock. "Just glad to be of help."

He would have gone on longer, but at that moment there was a huge crash from upstairs and a man came charging out of another door and into the gym. He was panting furiously with a microphone in hand. A few seconds later, he was joined by another man carrying a camera.

"That was awesome!" he exclaimed. He ran up to Brock and wrung his hand in a lengthy handshake. "Derek Anderson, gym reporter for Goldenrod Radio Television. That, sir, was one of the best things I've seen in a while on this beat. Could I trouble you for an interview?"

Brock looked at Whitney. "What's going on?"

She shrugged. "They televise all the matches online for people to watch. It's a fun little thing that helps with the upkeep around here. When something big happens, Derek runs over here for an interview. Would you mind?"

"Uh, sure, but I didn't really do anything too big." He looked at Swampert and Chansey. "What do you guys think?" Both of them nodded and smiled, so he did the same. "Alright, let's do this."

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0 finished the last batch of pancakes and set them on a platter next to the skillet. They smelled great or, at least, great considering he had made them. He still wasn't quite the chef that May was, but at least he had people to learn to cook for now.

"Dad?" 0 looked down and noticed Sarah peering over the counter at the new stack.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Why don't you ever eat anything?" she asked.

He thought about it. "Well, Sarah, that's sort of hard to answer. I used to have nightmares, really bad nightmares, like the ones you get sometimes. I couldn't sleep, so I tried this drink that Bakaguru made and it kept me awake. But I took it for too long, so now I have to drink it every three days."

"Or else what?"

He chuckled. "I'd go to sleep for a really long time. But the drink also covers my need to eat, so I'm never hungry." He took a sniff of the pancakes. "Even though these do smell nice." Sarah nodded. "Why don't you have mine?"

She hugged him. "Thanks, Dad!" she squealed. "You're the bestest."

He held her tight and nodded. "And you're the bestest daughter, baby girl."

"0!" shouted May from the other room.

He looked up. "Yes?" he caked back.

"Might want to get in here! There's something on the TV you'll want to see."

"Mind giving Dad a hand with the food?" Sarah nodded and grabbed the platter of pancakes. 0 took another platter filled with bacon and followed her. 415, Serena, Max, and May were all sitting at the table. Max and May looked incredibly confused by what they were seeing on the television screen.

"What's going on?" he asked as he and Sarah set the food on the table.

May was aghast. "It's…well, it's Brock." She pointed to the screen. "He's at the Goldenrod Gym."

0 looked at the television. Sure enough, it was Brock's face plastered on the screen. A caption underneath his face read "Brock Harrison, P.M.D., Pokemon Rescuer." Brock himself looked very uncomfortable being on camera. Next to him was Whitney, whom 0 recognized from years ago, and another girl he didn't know. Swampert and Chansey were in the background, obviously enjoying the media attention more than Brock.

"Turn it up," 0 said.

Serena grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

"…Really, it wasn't anything I did," said Brock. "I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

"He's being modest," said Whitney. "He saved my Milty on his own using just Pokemon."

An off-camera reporter asked, "Can you walk us through what was going through your mind, Dr. Harrison?"

"Uh…well, I just stopped by because I knew Whitney from my days as a Gym Leader, and I happened to walk into a match she was having with Christie here that got a little out of hand. I then just used my Pokemon to keep Milty stable until we could get a Full Restore from the department store." Brock was sweating. "That's really all there is to it."

"Why didn't you take Milty to a Pokemon Center immediately?" asked the reporter.

"Well, the burn had gotten through the first layer of skin and had actually seared a bit of her first stomach. I knew the burn would keep draining on Milty if we put her in a Pokeball, so I just thought it would be safer to operate on her here and not risk hurting her by moving her or anything happening while she was in the energy form in the Pokeball. And now Milty's perfectly healthy and she'll be good to go for gym matches after a few days of relaxation on Whitney's farm."

Beside Whitney, the Miltank mooed softly and nodded its head. The entire group chuckled, then the screen cut back to a pair of women in the studio, likely the hosts, who started commentating on Brock's bravery.

"So," said 0, "we really should figure out what to do about this."

Sarah ignored the conversation and suddenly became immersed in the nearby pancakes. Max nodded and said, "Well, this confirms Brock is still here. And his arrival in the city fits the timeline for Top and Dia."

"That could be deliberate, though," said May. "Besides, he has his own Pokemon with him. I've never seen a Dark Gem with their own Pokemon before."

"Fair point," said Serena. "Did the Pokemon look familiar?"

"I wasn't sure," said 0 with a shrug. "Swampert looked familiar, but I haven't really spoken to Brock in a few years."

"I have," said Max. "It's definitely his Swampert. Wasn't too sure about the Chansey, those all look alike. But Swampert has a chipped tooth I noticed."

"Okay," said 0. "That means Brock is either Top and is deliberately hiding it, or Top's just shape-shifting to mess with our heads. One way or another, we need confirmation."

"I have a suggestion," said 415.

"What is it?" asked May.

"Use Serena Brine. Brock Harrison's profile suggests he prefers the company of women. Have Serena Brine pose as a woman impressed by his appearance on the news and discern whether he has been corrupted by a Dark Gem."

"That could work," said Serena, "except I don't really know Harrison. I'd need someone who knew him pretty well helping me."

"I can do it," said Max. "Aside from 0, I probably know him the best out of the group here. Let's go." He and Serena rose from the table and headed out.

Sarah looked up. "Dad, is something wrong with Uncle Brock?"

"Not sure, Sarah," he said. "We hope not, but we'll try and find out. But if something is wrong, we'll do everything we can to fix him." Then he smiled. "Okay?"

"Okay, Dad." She seemed to forget what had happened and instead continued feasting on the food at the table. When she was finished she wiped her face on her sleeve and gave her father a syrupy grin. "So, when do we get to go outside and help set up?" she asked eagerly.

"As soon as you hop upstairs and get washed. Whole town's coming out, I'm not having my daughter be the one that looks like a hooligan."

"What's hooligan?" she asked.

"Remember when you first saw me fighting Mom in Saffron City?"

"Uh-huh."

"Remember what I was wearing?"

"Uh-huh."

"That's hooligan. Get upstairs and take a shower. You can come help us set up when you're done," said 0. Sarah nodded then ran up the stairs. 0 chuckled and headed outside with May.

"Did you remember to grab Grovyle and Mightyena from Max?" 0 asked.

She nodded and produced two Pokeballs from clips on her belt. "Sure did. Where are Lu and Tork?"

"Probably out back with your Pokemon. I think they're trying to explain dribbling to Tork."

May giggled and released Max's Pokemon. Grovyle and Mightyena emerged and yawned. Grovyle started at the sun for a few moments, then went off in search of a nice twig from some of the adjacent trees. Mightyena scratched around its ears then became incredibly interested in a nearby grouping of trees.

"_Grov, Grov_!" shouted 0. "_Ena_!" Grovyle, without turning its head, nodded and quickened its search. Mightyena barked back a reply.

"What'd you say?" asked May.

"Break's over in five minutes. We've got a little bit more work to do before everything's ready and I can't have Mightyena marking territory all day."

Around the back of the house, Blaziken and Lu were taking turns working with the basketball. To its credit, Blaziken had figured out how to dribble without popping the ball with its claws, something Lu had learned a week ago. Tork's head darted between the two as they played. It occasionally attempted to headbutt the ball when they got close to it, but its stubby feet made it impossible for it to play fairly. Tork hung its head and sighed.

"Don't worry, buddy," said 0. "You might not be able to handle the ball, but Sarah can definitely ride you to the basket." Tork perked up and made a happy noise. It lumbered over and, waiting for the right moment, poked its head out and smacked the ball right out of Blaziken's claws. The ball bounced to Lu, who grinned and jumped up to dunk it on the hoop. Blaziken gave the two of them an ugly look and retrieved the ball for another round.

"Don't drop your guard," said May to it. "I know you're more used to getting through Contest rounds, but just think of it as another performance instead of a human sport." She patted it on the back. "And good job with the dribbling."

"_Blaz_," it crowed happily, then returned its attention to carefully bouncing the ball.

"_Cario_," said Lu and stepped forward, demonstrating its claws. Blaziken eyed it warily. Lu made a dribbling motion with an open palm. "_Lu, Lu_."

"_Ziken_," replied Blaziken and passed the ball. It bounced past Lu, who ran back to retrieve it. Lu grabbed the ball and demonstrated a way to handle the ball with its palm and completely avoid its claw-tipped paws touching the ball.

"_Cario, Lu_," it said and passed the ball back. Despite overshooting, Blaziken managed to snatch it up before the ball sailed over its head.

It tried to do as Lu had done, but it found stretching its fingers out difficult. "_Blaz_!" it groaned.

"What're they talking about?" asked May.

"Lu's trying to help Blaziken with its handling. It figured out a way to stretch out its paw so it has greater control of the ball and avoids clawing it apart. I don't think Blaziken can do it though. Its hand is designed like a claw machine, so it has a harder time bending its fingers in the same way."

"I wonder where Beautifly and Glaceon are?"

"Probably setting up the obstacle course," said 0. "Why don't you head over there? I'm sure Grovyle can lend a hand."

She nodded. "Okay sweetie." She kissed him on the cheek then dashed off to the other side of the house.

When he was alone, he folded his arms and tapped his earpiece. "Hey, Pi?"

"Yeah?" it replied.

He looked at Lu, Tork, and Blaziken. "Do you ever miss that? Being in the real world, I mean."

It chuckled. "Sometimes," it said. "But then I remember that if I was in the real world I'd have to eat your cooking, and I soldiered through too many years of that after Brock left for med school."

The two of them shared a laugh. Then 0 got back to work.

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"Whitney, you've gotta get me out of here."

Brock looked outside. There were no less than ten different news vans converging on the parking lot in front of the gym. No less than twenty cameras were trained on the locked doors, and no less than thirty reporters eagerly wanted to speak with him. Understanding that the doors were sealed, the reporters had just started raising their voices to ask their questions, perhaps hoping he might shout back an answer, but he was having none of it.

"What's wrong with a little publicity, Brock?" she asked. "You saved Milty. Surely you deserve some kind of recognition. I'm pretty sure the mayor would give you the key to the city if you stuck around."

"I'm good, thanks. Just tell me there's a way passed them."

"But if you did some more interviews, the ladies around here would probably throw themselves at you. You know how much Goldenrod loves Milty."

"Well, that might be a—no! As fun as that would be, I've seen the paparazzi harass and annoy a bunch of my friends. I'd just really rather get out of here and enjoy my last day on vacation in peace."

"Okay, okay." Whitney thought about it for a moment. "There's a fire exit out back. I'm pretty sure that they won't find you if I stall them."

"Thanks." He turned to Christie. "You want to come with me? I guarantee if they love me they're going to be mad at you."

"But I didn't do it on purpose," said Christie.

"No, he's right," said Whitney. "Probably best you not get nabbed by the news crews. Head upstairs and find the fire escape. And you!" Whitney turned to Anderson, who had been on the phone arguing with a producer, and snatched up his phone. "No helping! You got your exclusive, so you come help me."

Anderson groaned, but he reluctantly followed her to deal with the press. "Follow me then," said Brock and led Christie upstairs. There were a few rooms but he spotted the one with the fire escape and led Christie to the window. "Alright, let's just take a look and…" He looked down and noticed a pair of reporters looking around the escape. "Oh boy."

"What is it?" Christie asked, then peered down. "Oh."

"Not a problem, I think I can fix this." Brock took out a Pokeball and tossed it down to the ground below. Swampert emerged and confused the two reporters. They looked around while Swampert stared at them warily. It glanced up briefly, saw Brock, then nodded without giving away their location.

"What's it going to do?" asked Christie.

Brock chuckled. "Well, some people tend to frown on using Pokemon against other people, but I fought Team Rocket long enough to know how to get someone blasting off." He raised his arm and gave Swampert a thumb's up. It nodded.

"What's this doing here?" asked one of the reporters. She made the unwise decision to approach Swampert. She was rewarded with a Water Gun directly to the face and fell flat on her back. "Oh, gross! I'm all wet!"

"Now we run!" said Brock and he jumped onto the fire escape. "Swampert, again!" Christie and Brock scaled down the ladders as Swampert lightly blasted the other reporter. His camera flew out of his arms and clattered to the ground. Brock recovered Swampert's Pokeball.

"Oh, come on!" shouted the reporter as he scrambled for the camera.

"One more time, Swampert!" Brock commanded. Swampert spewed water between the reporter and his precious camera and forced him to back down long enough for the three to make their escape. "Return." Swampert vanished back into the Pokeball. They sprinted down a nearby alleyway before the cameras could catch up to them.

They resurfaced a few blocks south of the gym, far away from the paparazzi. There weren't too many people walking the street, so Brock wiped his brow in relief. "I think we lost them. Should be okay to head out."

She smiled. "Thanks, Dr. Harrison," she said. "You were amazing back there."

He shook his head. "I'm not usually one for modesty, but it's no big deal. You're very welcome."

She started to head out, but stopped and turned around. "Hey, how'd you like to grab something to eat sometime? Say dinner?"

He chuckled. "I'm flattered, but I think I'm a bit old for you. What are you? Fourteen? Fifteen?"

She groaned. "I'm nineteen."

"As tempting as that would be, I'm thirty-five. I'm going to have to pass on the dinner." He held out his hand. "Take care, Christie. Try to take it easy in the league, okay?"

She shook her head. "Just passed up a sure thing, old man, but you're a good guy." She held his hand firmly. "At least I got the badge. Only four more to go."

"Good for you. I'll be looking for you when I'm watching the Silver Conference this year," he said. She headed off down the street and Brock watched her go, mentally kicking himself for being too mature to take her up on her offer. "Maybe she… No, no, that's a bad Brock. If Croagunk were here it'd have jabbed you by now. You don't have Max and the others to keep you in line anymore." He sighed, put his hands in his jacket pockets, and headed the other way.

He hadn't made it to blocks when he heard a woman's voice behind him. "Dr. Brock Harrison?" He groaned, but turned around with a smile.

Standing behind him was a woman he'd never seen before. She was a platinum blonde and much, much shorter than he was. She had green eyes and a devilish smile. She also had a piece of gum in her mouth that she was chewing. She held out a stick in her hand. "Gum?" she asked.

He nodded and took it. "Juicy Fruit's my favorite," he said and cautiously unwrapped it and put it in his mouth. "Uh, thanks?"

"Thank you. Saving Milty was much appreciated by the city."

He waved it off. "Really, really wasn't anything," he said, while internally he began thanking every life decision that had led to this beautiful woman offering him gum. _No, Brock. Play this cool_. He grinned. "Not to be rude or anything, but you wouldn't be a reporter would you?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Just me, Dr. Harrison."

"It's actually just Brock. Nobody calls me Dr. Harrison back in Pewter."

"Such a shame." She looked him up and down and smiled. "Dr. Harrison has such a nice ring to it."

_Control yourself right now, Harrison. Do not jump up and down. Do not profess love. Do what normal people do. Do what normal people do. Do what—_

"C-Coffee?" he blurted out.

"Hmmm?"

"Uh, coffee," he said. "Would you like some?"

"An invitation, Dr. Harrison? Are you asking out a complete stranger?"

"I know a place a few blocks away," he replied, having not listened to a single word she said. "If you wouldn't mind."

She laughed. "I like you, Dr. Harrison. The name's Samantha. Lead the way."

Brock decided it would be wise to remain silent on the walk to the coffee shop, if only so he would not get down on one knee and propose right there. He supposed she noticed, because after two blocks of silence she poked him in the side.

"Hey," she said. "Why so quiet?"

He coughed. "Honestly?"

"Please."

"Okay," he said. "Truth is, I have a habit of overreacting to beautiful women talking to me. When I was younger, this would manifest in the form of flowers and music, so I'm trying to keep calm around you."

She giggled. "So, is there a song and dance number, or do you just hear all that in your head?" She poked him again. "Ooh, what kind of flowers?"

He scratched his head. "It depends. Usually roses, those smell nice. And it's a swelling up kind of music, like you get on TV shows when there's a big confession. I have to pay all these royalties. But no, it's just in my head. You don't want to hear me singing. Couldn't find a tune to save my life."

Samantha cackled, and had to stop to bend over and belt out her laughter. "You've gotta be kidding me? Let me get this straight: you can save a Pokemon on national television but you can't meet a girl without getting your mom on speed dial to meet her?"

"It wasn't on national television, and my mom is not on my speed dial."

"Let me see!"

"No!"

The argument continued all the way to the coffee shop, at which point Samantha wrangled his phone away and started flipping through it.

"You have a Jenny and Joy screensaver?"

"Is that an app for _My Little Ponyta_? Are you a Bronyta?"

"She is on your speed dial! That's so cute!"

"Give me that!" he shouted and snatched it back up. He made sure to lock it with a password before he put it back into his pocket. "My personal property! No touching!" Samantha just laughed while everyone in the shop stared at him quizzically. "Uh," he muttered, as he noticed the growing amount of people recognizing him, "just go about your business please. Nothing to see here. Just a man regaining his cell phone from a girl with boundary issues he impulsively asked out."

A man stood up and dramatically pointed at him. "It's Brock Harrison!" he cried. Brock tilted his head, confused by the man's stance. "The man who saved Milty!"

Others began to stand. "For Milty!" they announced, then charged towards him.

"How am I this famous already?" Brock shouted.

Later, much later, when the seemingly endless stream of Milty fans left him be, Brock found himself sitting at a small table in the corner of the coffee shop with Samantha, utterly perplexed as to why he had thirteen white chocolate mochas on the table in front of him. Then he vaguely remembered ordering the first one and everyone clamoring to pay for it, which resulted in the caffeine fest in front of him.

"I'm sorry about all that," he said. "I'm really not sure how to turn it off. I have friends that put up with this every day and I really can't imagine doing that. I'm never going to be able to come back to this city."

"Don't be," said Samantha as she picked up one of the cups and took a sip. "It was really funny to watch. And you can come back to Goldenrod. You'll just need to go incognito. Maybe grow a moustache. Then nobody will want to talk to you."

"But then wouldn't you not want to talk to me?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. Depends on how big it is."

"Nope, not worth it. Maybe you can come to Pewter one day."

She eyed him. "You're not seriously asking me to come visit you a whole region away after one coffee date are you?"

"One, possibly. I told you I'm trying to keep a handle on that whole romantic thing. Two, you just suggested you might see me if I come back and brave the paparazzi for you."

She grinned. "Touché, Dr. Harrison." She raised her glass. "Not only can you rescue local heroes, you can also argue reasonably well."

He raised his cup. "Maybe you should give me your number, just in case I need a quick ego boost and visit."

For a brief moment, Samantha's grin faltered. It was only for a second, then it returned as if it'd never gone. "I'd love to, Dr. Harrison." She pulled a pen out of her purse and wrote the number down on a napkin. She passed it over and Brock pocketed it. "So, how does it feel to have gotten a girl's number?"

"Not gonna lie, I feel like doing a little jig."

"Well, don't let me stop you. Dance away."

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"There's no way you win, Sarah!"

0 watched with interest as his daughter blew a raspberry at the child she was playing against, a girl by the name of Molly. Instead of letting the taunt get to her, Sarah instead continued her approach. He noticed she was doing quite well keeping her footing on Tork's shell and briefly reminisced about a race he'd once ridden a Lapras in.

He'd paired Sarah with Tork, Lu, and Blaziken, figuring she'd be at ease with her parents' Pokemon, but hadn't counted on how quickly she'd taken to basketball with them. It hadn't been but a few minutes, but she'd already figured out how to get Lu and Blaziken to work together while coordinating attacks from atop Tork.

"She takes after you," said May. "She's a natural with the Pokemon."

He shook his head. "She takes after both of us. She's the prodigy of a world-class trainer _and_ a world-class coordinator." He reached down and held her hand as the game continued. Across from them, Molly's father was recording the match on a small camera along with a few other parents.

Sarah was assessing the situation. She was down five points already and her opponent had an easier mount. Mightyena growled at the weight, but didn't let up and kept her steady while she directed Grovyle and Beautifly onto the field.

"She should have had this already," said 0. "She has the home field advantage with the Pokemon and the terrain. I wonder what she's waiting for."

"When does she get the ball again?"

"In a bit. If she can block the shot this time."

"You sound a bit disappointed," said May.

"I'm not disappointed. I'm just supporting my daughter."

"Yes, but you expect her to be as good as you. Remember, she can't talk to Pokemon or substitute for the years you've been training Pokemon." She grinned and nudged him. "Don't be such a soccer mom, okay?"

"I am not a—fair point," he grumbled. "Okay, we'll see what she does."

The primary reason Sarah was at a disadvantage was because of Molly's Beautifly. All Grovyle had to do was pass the ball up to it and it could fly over Sarah's entire defense. She was eying it suspiciously as she tried to figure out a way around it. Then Molly passed the ball to Beautifly and Sarah started moving.

"Blaziken, Sky Uppercut!" she shouted. As Beautifly neared her side of the court, Sarah's Blaziken crouched and jumped straight up. Beautifly tried to dodge, but the ball was cumbersome and it dropped the ball. Blaziken grabbed it in midair as it sailed back down.

"Pass to Lu!" said Sarah. "Lu, take it to the hole!"

Blaziken delicately passed the ball right to Lu who immediately started dribbling up the court. "Grovyle, block it!" Molly ordered.

Grovyle had a natural advantage and instantly grabbed the ball with its long, slender fingers. It jumped passed both Blaziken and Tork and tossed the ball into the basket.

0 cursed under his breath. "Keep trying, Sarah!" May shouted over him and tightened his grip on his hand. "Don't be a butt, Keean."

"Right, right," he said. "Go Sarah! Try and find a way around Grovyle this time! You can do it!" He turned to May. "Better?"

She smiled. "Much."

Sarah waved at them and took the ball from Lu. The minutes were ticking down, she wouldn't have enough time to catch up before long.

"Is 415 handling everything, Pi?" 0 asked under his breath.

"She's doing fine with the obstacle course. It was a good idea to only do two events today. Serena and Max are still working on Brock."

"Roger." He turned his attention back to the game and gasped.

Sarah found a way around Molly by going through her. She passed the ball back to Blaziken and charged forward riding Tork. She almost slipped off but held on to the front of its shell. Grovyle tried to slink around and grab the ball from Blaziken, but Lu blocked it off and kept Beautifly from diving down and stealing it. Mightyena, not wanting to be trampled by several hundred pounds of fire turtle, dodged out of the way despite Molly's protests to grab the ball herself. Blaziken jumped and earned Sarah her first point.

"Whee!" she shouted with glee as she retreated back to her side of the court.

0 roared his approval. "Way to go, baby girl!"

May raised her hands. "Go Sarah!"

Sarah turned to her parents. "See? I did it!"

"Great work, Sarah!" shouted 0. "But get your head back in the game! Molly's got the ball again!" Sarah nodded and shifted her attention back to defense. Across the court, Molly's father looked like he growled before resuming filming.

For a moment, he looked directly at 0, who felt a slight shiver that was unmistakable. "Oh no," he said. "Oh, let me be wrong. Please let me be wrong."

"What is it?" asked May.

"Nothing, I just, I just really want to be wrong about something right now."

The rest of the game was uneventful to 0. Sarah managed to defend her side of the court but it was too difficult for her to get passed Molly. Eventually the time ran out and Molly won, but 0 wasn't paying attention to the game anymore.

Molly's father kept staring at him and nodded his head. He stopped filming and went to his Molly, whom he picked up and hugged tightly. Then, before 0 could do anything, they started approaching Sarah.

0 tapped his earpiece. "415! Max! Abandon posts and get over here!" he ordered. "I think we have a situation!" He started moving and got in between his daughter and what he was pretty sure was—

"Hi, I'm Keean Toby" he said and held out his hand. "Great match, huh? Well, we'll make sure Sarah improves for next time. Right, sweetie?"

"Keean, what did I say about encouragement?"

"Yes, dear, but—"

0 never finished, because an instant later Molly's father drew back his right arm and slugged 0 right in the face. 0 crashed into the ground and rolled back up to his feet.

Molly's father transformed. His features melted back into Brock's grinning face. Someone must have noticed it because 0 heard someone scream as Top's face started to bubble and drip off. He started pulling out his Dark Topaz and began wrapping himself in his chains.

Molly giggled. "Hey, golden boy," she said. "I wanna eat your Sarah. Is that okay?" She started jumping up and down as her chains wrapped along her body.

"May," said 0. "Get Sarah out of here right now."

"No, no, no!" said Molly before anyone could move. How had 0 not seen them? Rangerlings, scores of them, surrounded the court. "I wanna eat her! She's mine and I want her!" She turned to Top, who had finished his transformation. "I want her! I want her now!"

But Top didn't move. He just kept staring at 0, as if waiting for the other man to make his move. "Daddy, I want her! I want her now!" When Top still refused to move, she started screaming. "_Dark Gem Ignite_!" she wailed and finished her transformation. "Why aren't you moving?" she shrieked. "_Why aren't you moving_?"

And then something terrible happened. A chain shot out of the Dark Diamond Ranger and embedded itself into Top's skull. Though he didn't collapse, he shuddered in place for a few seconds before raising his hand. Satisfied, Dia withdrew her chain and stepped aside. Top grew an extra two arms and started walking towards 0.

What was happening, he wondered. It was suddenly cloudy, too cloudy from the way it had been only a few minutes ago. Could it be starting to rain? There wasn't anybody around anymore except for Rangerlings. Everyone else had taken off.

"Sweetie, baby girl, stay close," he said and morphed.

The bright Pokeball hologram appeared around him and burst open, revealing his ranger gear. He positioned himself between his family and Top. "Pi, recall Lu and Tork now," he ordered. Two points of light issued from the two Pokeballs attached to his belt. "Prepare the Auxiliary Pokemon System."

It only took two seconds, then Cario Form was online. He braced the giant gauntlets and prepared for combat. "Where's the rest of my team?" he asked Lu

"415 will be here soon, sir. Pi is helping Max teleport Serena. Won't be long!"

There was a flash of light next to him. He turned and saw the Black Ranger with her giant magnetic mace in her hands.

"Ready to do this?" he asked 415.

"Target the big one," she suggested. "He will be angered if we target the Diamond first."

"Cover me," he said. "Don't let either get to May or Sarah. Keep the Rangerlings away until everybody else joins the party."

"Understood." She fell back into a support position while 0 advanced to combat Top.

The first blow was mitigated thanks to the gauntlets. They weren't strong enough to hurt Top, but they were powerful enough to block his blows without breaking 0's arms. 0 got behind Top and smashed the back of his left gauntlet into his body. The spike broke through his armor and wedged itself into where Top's kidney would have been. Top didn't scream, or grunt, or do anything verbal, but he slowed visibly, just enough for 0 to reach for his next Pokeball.

Oal Form came online just as quickly as Cario Form went offline. Immediately, 0 took advantage of the gaping wound and smashed his reinforced fist right into it. It tore through more muscle and Top slowed even further.

He might win this yet, he thought. Tork approved and encouraged him to stop damaging Top's body and refocus on some of the Rangerlings that were surrounding him. He grabbed Top's neck and activated Protect, sending the wave of Rangerlings crashing down to the ground and straining Top's muscles even further. Top dropped motionless and 0 switched back to his standard ranger form.

"Pi, download the Bolt Blade," he asked. "I'm sensing an easy victory for once." The blade formed in his hand and he slashed at the Rangerlings.

"Are we late for the party?" 0 looked up. Serena and Max were crashing through waves of Rangerlings to make their way to the center where 415 was holding off most of them by herself. Max roared and tore off one of the Rangerlings' heads, reducing it to dust in moments. He stationed himself around May and Sarah while 415 and Serena took to the offensive and began preemptive strikes on the waves that kept coming.

Top was getting up again. "Pi, switch to compact mode." The blade shrank instantly. "Only way to beat this guy is if we go faster than him."

"Agreed. Should we use Agility?"

"I'm sort of burning through the Synchronization Drive, but this would be the time for it. Fire it up." 0 vanished, too quick for the eye to trace, and managed to score two deep wounds on Top's back. Top roared and tried to reach him, but he was too fast.

"We're going to win!" he shouted with another slash across Top's chest.

"Are you?" 0 couldn't see the voice, but he knew it was Dia. "You think you can just keep slicing at my daddy and expect everything to work. Didn't you kill Sap? The only thing that matters is the Gem. And you'll never hit my daddy's."

She was right. He was scoring victories, but Top kept one set of arms constantly guarding the gigantic gem at the center of his chest. And each time he murdered a wave of Rangerlings, it seemed that two more took its place almost immediately. There were too many.

"Oh no…" he muttered. "There are too many."

It hadn't happened immediately. Dia had been smart, very smart. She'd kept May and Sarah on the battlefield. She added Rangerlings slowly. She'd separated 0 from the others. And Top had been playing with him. 0 swung the sword again and Top caught it easily. The blade bit into his fingertips but he barely noticed it as he grabbed 0 by the throat and started twisting. 0 tried to get away, but not even a fully-charged Volt Tackle could sway him. But Top didn't kill him. Top waited, showing how the Rangerlings kept coming and coming for his family, until finally they were overrun.

Serena was the first to fall, being in the front. She missed one Rangerling with a punch and a dozen more fell on top of her.

415 fared better, swinging her mace in a giant arc over her head to keep them away. But one got underneath the arc and twenty followed.

Max never wavered. He killed scores, droves, everything that dared get within a hair of either Sarah or May. 0 struggled and watched as the Dark Diamond Ranger approached him and performed the same trick she had done with Top. The chain melted into the Dark Emerald Ranger's face.

"How are you good?" asked Dia."What is wrong with you?"

"_L-Laaaaade_," Max groaned.

"Oh, that's right. You're stuck like that, aren't you? Well, let's fix that." She gripped the chain and, in one move, tore it from Max's face. The Dark Emerald Ranger screamed. He started to glow violently. The world got so bright amidst the rain.

Nothing happened, though. Max became brighter and fell to the soggy ground. "Pathetic," she whispered and turned to the others. She reached 415 and, without even trying, kicked her so hard her ranger system just faded away. She didn't look bruised, but only because her mask would not let her.

"You're all just pathetic, you know that. All I wanna do is eat one little girl. O'm tired of eating the others. They're so fat and old, it's like eating expired bacon." She grabbed 415 by the face. "What do you really look like?"

From the distance, 0 could hear a faint plea from 415's lips.

"What's that?" asked Dia. "Don't take the mask? But what's the fun of a mask if you can't take it off? Stupid old lady." 0 tried to stop it, but Top canceled the morpher and 0 was left powerless to stop what came next.

The mask came off and, for the first time, 0 heard 415 scream.

He couldn't get a good look. It was too dark in some places because of the storm and too bright in colors because of whatever was happening to Max. But whatever 415's face was, in the brief instant he saw it before she covered her face, he felt fear.

Then Dia turned to Sarah.

"No," said 0. "No!"

"Little girlie, come out from behind your mommy," cooed Dia. "Mommies are useless anyway. They just get in the way." She got onto her tiptoes and punched May in the stomach. There was no contest. Without any sort of protection, May fell between her daughter and the monster. Dia stepped over May to get to the little girl. May grabbed her boot.

Dia laughed. "Idiot." She kicked May in the face. May fell, and Dia turned to Sarah. "Come here, dinner."

"Get away from her!" Top tightened his grip on 0's throat. "Get away!" Something was happening, he didn't like it. Something was boiling inside him.

Dia hit Sarah. 0 watched his little girl get smacked in the face, kicked, and punched. Sarah screamed in pain, it was the worst sound 0 had ever heard. 0 started thrashing, ignoring Top's tightening grip, ignoring everything but the need to protect his daughter.

He was breathing heavily. _I gave up everything. I gave up my wife. I gave up my daughter. I gave up my life! And now that I have it back, you think you can take it away from me? You think you can take what's mine? Stop touching her! Get away from her! Get away from my family you psychotic freaks!_

He screamed and light exploded out around him. He felt Top's hand loosen around him and smashed his elbow into Top's chest. He was released and Top backed away. 0 didn't care, 0 barely noticed anything had happened.

_ "The morpher will not force such an extreme transformation without an extreme catalyst for the morph. Say there is a great deal of anger. Were you to morph in such a state, the psychological effects could extend to the morpher and bond you. Mind you, such as transformation would require an exceeding amount of rage the likes of which—"_

He understood. He didn't necessarily comprehend everything but he understood. He felt so much power building up inside him, so much strength, that it hurt. It hurt so much, it tore through his body.

"No," he whispered, before the pain overloaded him and all he knew was hate. He lifted his head and screamed as the rain pelted his skin for the last time.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

Brock returned to his hotel late that night. It had been a great day, even after Samantha had had to leave on such short notice. He still had her number, maybe he would text her when he was back in Pewter. Maybe he wouldn't. All he knew was that he'd managed to make it through a date with a woman without making a complete idiot out of himself. Well, not counting all the mochas at the beginning.

He slid his key card into the lock and walked into his room. He began to grab his clothes and put them into his suitcases. His flight left at ten in the morning and he was rather punctual. He would get everything ready tonight, then reward himself with a casual morning before hiring a taxi for the airport in the morning.

He was so invested in the packing that he didn't even notice what was in his bathroom the first time he went in. He had missed it completely, opting instead to pick up his shaving kit and pack it. It was only when he realized he'd missed his toothbrush did he go back inside and turn on all the lights. Then he saw it.

Lying in the tub was a mummified girl. Her skin looked stretched over her bones. She was huddled in the fetal position in the shower, no wonder he hadn't noticed. He screamed. His heart was racing. "There's a dead girl in my bathroom," he said to no one, unable to believe it. "She's not breathing, she's not doing anything. She's just…dead."

Then he noticed something else. Something…familiar about the girl. "C-C-Christie?" he breathed. There was no mistaking it. The girl looked like someone had hollowed out Christie and left nothing. "What the—"

"Good. This was taking an inordinate amount of time." Brock nearly jumped out of his skin. Standing in the doorway to his bathroom was another woman with her arms crossed and a sick look of satisfaction in her eyes. "It is lucky for you that you were requested as a live capture. I was growing very impatient."

"Who are—what is—what's going on?" Brock shouted. He ran up and tried to get passed the woman, but she just punched him in the stomach and drove him to his knees.

She bent down and looked him in the eyes. "Brock Harrison. My designation is Ame, and that handiwork there is the talents of my associate Dia. Now that the rangers know Top's ruse is up, you are now the property of my employers until such time as you can be disposed of usefully."

Then she kicked him in the chin, but not before he got out one last word:

"Huh?"


	32. Morph 32

**Morph Thirty-Two: Brock Dies**

"Serena? Serena, wake up!"

Serena blinked thrice then tapped at her earpiece. "What is it Dewgong?" she asked groggily and glanced at the clock by her bedside table. "It's three in the morning. I'm not on duty tonight."

"I know," it said. "There's been a break-in downstairs. Everyone else is heading there."

Her head cleared immediately. "Okay." She got up and threw on some sweat pants and a shirt before she ran out the door. May was waiting at the end of the corridor.

"Hurry. Max and 415 are already waiting for you."

"Figures," said Serena. "And Sarah?"

"She's asleep," said May. "Finally got her down without any pain pills."

"Okay, let's go." As they headed to Ranger Downs, Serena asked, "Do they know what it was? Are the Dark Gems after something again?"

May shook her head. "No, no Dark Gems. We…we think it was 0."

Serena froze. "Are you sure? What did the cameras show?"

"I don't know. That's why Max and 415 are waiting for you. I'd come, but—"

Serena put her hand on May's shoulder. "It's okay. Stay up here and take care of Sarah. I'll let you know if anything big's going on." May nodded, then retreated into Sarah's room. Serena rubbed her eyes and descended into Ranger Downs.

The entire headquarters was in disrepair. Wires were disconnected and random sparked jumped out of the computer monitors. The transporter was untouched, thankfully, but several files had been withdrawn and scattered around. It looked almost like…

"Were we robbed?" asked Serena. She sidestepped a wire that was jumping around due to a surge of electricity.

415 and Max were already looking through the damage. "Unsure," said 415. "Preliminary report suggests that whoever was responsible was definitely searching for something. It is, however, possible that the individual was unsure where their query was located." She gestured to the files. "Nothing regarding our classified data appears to be stolen. The intruder might have created copies that could have been more easily removed, though."

Serena nodded. "And you, Max? Anything from the Dark Emerald?"

Max shrugged. "I can definitely tell you that Top and Dia weren't here. I'd be able to sense some residue if they touched anything with active Dark Gems. This was either done demorphed, or Dia and Top aren't responsible."

"What about Ame? Could she have done it?"

"Could be. I really don't know her scent, though, so I can't say for sure either way." 415 and Max both looked at each other, then Max returned his attention to Serena. "I think there's really only one person it could have been."

"You think it was 0?"

415 nodded. "Transporter indicates it was used twice. Once the security system was overridden for the first transport, then again to transport the object away. While whoever it was wiped any trace of who was responsible, I would infer that a Dark Gem would have slit all our throats instead of ransacking our data. It is therefore likely that 0 tapped through the systems. He did, after all, construct Ranger Downs."

Serena grabbed a tossed-aside chair, righted it, then sat down. "He's maintained radio silence. What could he have possibly wanted now? More importantly, what could he have wanted that he couldn't simply show up at the doorstep and asked for?"

415 thought for a moment. "Serum," she suggested. "He may have trapped himself in morph, but he could still require the serum."

"For what, though?" asked Serena. "Does he even need it anymore? What happens to the body when someone gets trapped in morph?"

"Again, I cannot confirm," said 415. "All I can assume is based on the data left over from when the…previous Golden Ranger was trapped in morph." She turned to Max. "Make yourself useful and check 0's supply of serum." Max grunted but complied. "The process can best be explained through an analogy to a Poke Ball."

"Well, enlighten us then," said Serena.

415 nodded. "As you know, a Poke Ball is designed as a temporary storage unit. It converts the physical body of a Pokemon into an infrared code that is unique to that Pokemon. That code, however, is not a physical body and interacts with the functions programmed into Poke Balls to maximize their comfort. As a result, Pokemon do not eat need to or sleep, nor do they perceive time as we do when confined to the Poke Ball."

"Yes, but what does that have to do with 0?"

"Our morphers run on the same basic principle as a Poke Ball, with the exception being how the code formed from the Poke Ball is used. Our Pokemon, such as Luxray and Dewgong, are permanently transformed into the coded state. The coded state, in return, releases our ranger systems and battle armor in the same way a Poke Ball releases a Pokemon. The difference between our morphers and a Poke Ball is what the code physically releases. It is the reason Pokemon cannot be recovered once they have been used to generate a Ranger Mode.

"A hypothesis could be made," continued 415, "that 0's body has been dealt with in the exact same manner. His fusion with his morpher has caused his body to transform into the same infrared code used to store Pokemon, only in this relationship his Ranger Form functions as his Poke Ball. There would be a physical presence, but there is likely nothing underneath 0's Ranger Form other than pure energy. This explains why rangers such as 0 and the former Golden Ranger cannot morph back: there is nothing for them to morph back to because there is no known method to revert the infrared code back into a physical body."

"But that doesn't make sense," said Serena. "How come we can't get his body back? We can keep Pokemon and release them from Poke Balls. For that matter, how come we can do the same thing with equipment like motorcycles or helicopters? PKM has that technology."

"If I may," said Max, resurfacing from his search, "I'm guessing that's because those things have a medium that lets the object go back and forth. Poke Balls have buttons on them that release the code and set up the Pokemon's transformation back to its regular body. I'm guessing 0 doesn't have that."

"Then how does he morph?"

"The morph doesn't affect your body." Max pointed at his Dark Emerald. "Take my emerald. When I morph, the Dark Emerald fundamentally alters my physical body and mind and lets me do all the crazy awesome things that are associated with it. When I demorph, my body returns to normal, or normal for me, and I regain my ability to speak." Then he pointed at Serena's morpher. "Your body doesn't change when you morph. Neither does hers and neither did 0's. It just makes armor. 415's trying to say that the Ailed Morpher doesn't have a system to alter the ranger's physical body, just the infrared code that makes up your ranger spirit." He turned to 415. "How close am I?"

"As close as an ignoramus can aspire to," she replied. "He is fundamentally correct. The Ailed Morphers you and I are not equipped with a Synchronization Drive or an Auxiliary Pokemon System as 0's is, so there is no danger of us fusing with our morphers to the extent that we become trapped in morph. As a result, no failsafe was ever designed to reconvert a ranger's physical body from the infrared form 0 has been transformed into. That is why 0 is trapped."

Serena turned to Max. "What'd you find?"

Max scratched behind his head. "Serum was definitely taken, from the looks of it ten vials. Guess 0 really was here. Still, if his body's made of code, he shouldn't need it anymore. His body automatically wouldn't go to sleep since it has no need to."

"It doesn't matter," said Serena. "0 was always addicted to the drug. Addicts don't quit cold turkey. Even if his body doesn't need it anymore, his mind might be telling him otherwise. If the code specifically mimics him, his mind might be going through withdrawal anyway."

"That is likely," agreed 415. "He will require therapy to completely remove the addiction, regardless of whether he has a physical body that can process the serum. It would function as a placebo, placating his mind without affecting his body."

There was a brief lull in the conversation while Serena thought. She placed her head on a table and moaned. "I really don't want to do this," she groaned. "We have enough problems without worrying about whether 0's gone crazy. Why'd he have to leave? I hate being leader."

"Putting my two cents forward," said Max, "he's probably not crazy. Well, crazier. He might be ashamed of himself. Could be distancing himself to protect everyone."

"Exactly as I feared," said 415. "Regardless, Serena Brine, we are without our primary asset and you are the senior ranking officer. You must guide us through this. You must formulate a plan to protect May and Sarah Birch without Ranger Gold."

"It's not that simple," said Serena. "0 always came up with the plans, or Bakaguru. We need help. We need—" She stopped for a second. "We need help." She looked up. "Do you think we could ask Jenny?"

"The police woman?" asked 415. "It is unlikely she would be an asset."

"Not as an asset. I'm willing to bet she's been trying to keep tabs on us. Find out who we are, that sort of thing. If she is, odds are good that every report that might even remotely mention us will be on her desk. What if someone's reported spotting 0? And—" She turned to the transporter and pointed "—0 might have left without a trace over here, but there might be some residue energy from wherever he teleported. If we scan for traces of our teleporter's activity, we could probably find where he dropped himself off and bring him back ourselves. Could that be done?"

415 considered the plan. "I disagree with obtaining Jenny's information personally. It would be unwise to panic her with the belief that one of our operatives could have gone rouge. We can likely obtain the information by hacking into their security system and downloading all the police reports for the last two days. The teleporter energy will be difficult to obtain, given the feedback from buildings such as Pokemon Centers, but it may be possible to lock onto a general area 0 could have teleported to."

Serena shook her head. "No. Work on finding where the teleporter energy shows up, but I'm telling Jenny. She trusts us, so we need to trust her."

415 shrugged. "Do what you want. Do not take him." She gestured at Max. "She will not respond positively."

"Good idea. No offense, Max."

"None taken from you. I know I'm not exactly someone you want around when you want to create a stress-free environment. I'll go let May know what's going on."

"Okay." Serena pressed the transformation button on her morpher. "We've all got our assignments. 415, power up the transporter. I'll need to be shot near Jenny. Where is she?"

"One moment." 415 consulted a monitor on the main computer. "According to the communicator we provided her, she is at her personal residence."

"I'll need you to short out her electrical wiring."

"How? Do I look as though I can hold an entire house's worth of electricity inside my body?"

"Oh yeah," said Serena. "Sorry, it's just something 0 did whenever we went—"

"I understand. The transporter is prepared," she announced. "Please step onto the disk and await teleportation." Serena stepped onto the plate and, a few seconds later, she vanished into thin air. "Transport confirmed. She has arrived at her destination."

"Great," said Max. "I'll go let May know the plan."

"Fine, just do not interrupt me. Searching for teleportation energy is hardly an exact science." Max left 415 to her project.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"Splash some water on his face. Wake him."

Freezing water jolted Brock back into a state of consciousness. He blinked and spit out some of the water that had wound up in his mouth. "Ugh. What's—what's going on?" He muttered and emitted a weak groan. "Where am I?"

"Dr. Harrison," said a voice to his left. "Thank you for joining us."

He moved his head. There was nothing. "I can't see," he said. He blinked furiously. "Can't see!"

"Calm yourself, Dr. Harrison," said the voice. "You are blindfolded. With your permission, I will remove it momentarily. We do not wish to put you in a state of discomfort."

"Gee, thanks." He had a splitting headache. "Glad to know I'm getting the first class treatment." He heard a slight chuckle, and after a few moments he felt a pair of arms reach around his head and undo the blindfold. He blinked and stared into the eyes of his captor.

It was the woman, Ame, he had figured that out from her voice. She had bright purple hair and eyes, but there were no lines on face. She was beautiful, but there was no emotion anywhere, not even in her eyes or around her lips. She lifted the blindfold then dropped it to the ground. "I apologize for the circumstances around your invitation to our abode. It was quite necessary that we have you."

Brock shook his head. He couldn't remember much of anything, only that… "C-Christie," he muttered. "I think I remember. She was in my bathroom." He shuddered. "What did you do with her?"

Ame pointed at herself. "Me? Oh no, that was not my doing. That was the work of our little helper Dia." In response, a little girl hopped up into Brock's line of sight. She giggled.

"Yeppers! That was me!" She then grinned, displaying a full set of perfect teeth. "She wasn't very tasty, though. Tasted like a worn-out tire." She reached up and, very deliberately, licked Brock's arm. "Mmm…you taste soooooo good!" She looked up at the woman. "Can I have him? Please can I have him? I'm so hungry!"

Ame shook her head. "Not yet. My contract stipulates he must remain alive for now. Perhaps when we have obtained the Dark Gold. Besides, you just ate."

"That girl wasn't anything! I've had Gummy Bears more filling than her!"

"Dia, not now. Go play with Top."

The little girl fumed for a moment, but eventually muttered, "Fine, Ame. Daddy! I wanna play horsey!" She tossed her hair in the air and bound out of the room.

"I apologize for my associate," said Ame. "She remains immature as ever."

Brock rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sure she'll grow into it. Now, how's about you untie me and let me go?"

Ame shook her head. "I am afraid that is not possible. We require your assistance."

"I'm not really sure what I can do for you," said Brock. "I'm just a doctor."

"You are mistaken, Dr. Harrison. You are quite valuable to May Birch."

"What?" Brock had to think for a second. "May? I haven't heard from May in something like a year. Her whole family dropped off the map."

"Wrong, Dr. Harrison. What if I were to tell you they were here in Goldenrod?"

"I'd ask what's the point? If she wants to lay low, let her lay low. Her life's her own business."

A quick smile flickered across Ame's face. She reached over and grabbed Brock's hair. She pulled until the handful was torn from Brock's scalp. "Wrong again. It is important we have her, Dr. Harrison, and you are going to lead us to her." She watched a slight dribble of blood fall from Brock's brow and form a small puddle of red on the floor. "However, we do not expect you to cooperate willingly."

Brock grunted. "N-Not a chance," he muttered. His brow scrunched up as another handful of hair was ripped off his head. He screamed.

Ame shushed him and lightly brushed against his chin with her fingers. "If it is any consolation, know I take no pleasure in this." She watched the blood trickle down his head. "But I have no choice. We all have no choice."

"W-What is it you w-want?" he asked.

"May Birch and Serena Brine, and it is the belief of my employers that your torment will result in their acquisition."

"Who's S-Serena?"

"Oh yes, of course. You are out of the loop, as it were." She ripped out a third handful. "No matter. The others will finish with you shortly."

Brock was gasping for breath. "The others?" he asked. "What's going to happen to me?"

"Nothing you will comprehend once it is over. Top! Dia!" Brock looked away from Ame and noticed that the little girl and another person, a gigantic man, entered the room. "Dia, Axi and Bix want him unrecognizable. He must live through it, though. Top will supervise. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Ame!" shouted the smiling girl.

"Good. When you conclude I will brief you on the final stages of your contracts."

"Ooh!" Dia jumped up and down. "That means we're almost done, right? We get to go bye-bye?"

Ame nodded. "Once the Dark Gold is released from its bond with May Birch and Serena Brine is in our possession, Axi and Bix have assured me you will be allowed your freedom."

"Freedom!" said Dia with relish. "Think of it, Daddy! I can eat anyone I want, whenever I want! No grumpy Axi and Bix to tell me I can't eat anything. I'm a growing girl, aren't I Daddy?" Top made no sign that he heard her, but followed her with his eyes warmly. "Yes I am!"

Ame pointed at Brock. "Well, you can start with him. Limbs and nonessential organs only. This plan requires him alive." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a camera. "Top, film the best parts. We will also need those."

Top took the camera and turned it on. He pointed it at Brock.

"Okay!" said an excited Dia. She turned to Brock as well, and Brock swore he saw a bit of drool on her lower lip.

"H-Hang on!" he shouted. "What are you going to do?"

Dia perked her head. "Don't you know?" she asked.

"I really don't," he said. "I have no idea what's going on."

"Oh, well let me explain. See, we're the Dark Gems." At this, she pointed excitedly at herself and Top. "My name's Dia and this is my Daddy. Ame calls him Top. Anyhow, we're trying to get some people to come out and play with us. Especially Sarah. They've got this girl named Sarah and I really wanna play with her. I got really close last time too. But they won't come out of hiding and it's hard to get into their clubhouse. So Ame got together with the bosses—that's Axi and Bix—and they thought of a new plan to get them to come out. And all we had to do was get you! Easy, huh?"

"Still not understanding most of that."

Dia laughed. "You're sweating! That'll make you taste even better! Daddy, can we put a heater on him so he'll do it some more? Can we, please?" She looked up at Top and batted at him with her eyelashes. After a while of Top just staring at nothing, Dia finally sighed and returned her attention to Brock. "Oh well. Guess you're as tasty as you're ever going to get."

"Hang on, I don't understa—"

Brock tried to say more, but it all came out in a scream. Dia leapt up behind him and grabbed his arm. Despite her size, she was quite capable of shattering his wrist with one slight jerk. She tore his arm from the binding that tied it to the chair and, through his tears, he watched her lean in and bite his thumb off.

The room erupted with his shrieks. Over his protests, Dia grinned and spit out the thumb. It clattered to the floor, only instead of a healthy tan thumb it was shriveled and mummified. "Oh delicious!" she exclaimed. "So fresh!" She dove onto the rest of the arm. She didn't physically rip any more off, but each time her teeth fell on him they passed straight through his skin and mummified it.

"Stop!" he shouted. "P-Please!" He looked at the lifeless husk that was attached to his left shoulder and he fell of his chair to the floor. Dia withdrew, just to watch him cradle what was once a working arm close to his chest.

"But I'm still hungry!" she protested. "Do you know how hard it is to eat someone's essence without killing them? It's really hard!" She ripped his other arm from its binding on the chair. "Watch."

She lowered her mouth and bit in. Brock screamed. He watched in horror as her lips passed right through his wrist, leaving behind mangled, withered remains where there had just been a healthy hand. She kept going and going, until all that was left of Brock's arms couldn't have lifted a thimble. They were dry and skinny remains he clutched close to his chest. He heard himself whimpering and tried as best he could to scoot away from her.

"Daddy!" Dia wailed. "He's trying to get away! Stop him!"

Top registered the command and moved forward.

"No," whispered Brock. "P-Please. I have family, friends, you can't do this to—" He cried out as Top viciously kicked him in the side, knocking all the air out of him. Brock gasped and tried to crawl, but all he accomplished was a half-hearted scoot.

Brock Harrison started sobbing. Clutching himself in the fetal position, he felt the tears pouring out of his eyes. He didn't want to die. Not here. Not now. He just wanted to close his eyes and wake up in his bed in Pewter City. "I-I can't die here," he whimpered. "I need to get home. I need to go back to my family. I don't even have a girlfriend!" There was so much he wanted to do.

But then Dia turned him over and sat on his chest. "Are you done yet?" she asked. "I still want to play. Why doesn't anyone want to play with me anymore?"

He sniffed, but glared at her. "I-I'm not afraid of you." He spit in her face. "I'm not afraid of either of you!"

Dia laughed. "You're silly," she said. "Grownups always say silly things around me. I think it's because they _are_ afraid. But why would they be afraid of little old me? I mean, I'm just a little girl. A cute little girl. Aren't I, Daddy?" She turned to Top and giggled. "Make sure to get my good side." She ruffled her hair and turned to Brock. "He never gets my good side. He's so silly, just like you!"

She started again, destroying his right leg and then his left. Brock screamed and screamed as his body twisted and contorted with pain. After what seemed like hours, he finally felt her stop. He couldn't feel anything, he could barely see.

"And that's all I get," she said. She then lifted her head and belted out a gigantic belch. "Mmmm-hmmm! So much better than the girlie I had earlier! This one was full of vitamins." She turned to Top. "Did you see, Daddy? I ate all my dinner. No fats for me! All natural!"

Top looked down and patted his daughter's head. Dia closed her eyes and grinned while Brock cringed in the corner.

"Ame!" shouted Dia. "I'm all done! Want us to do anything else?"

"No, Dia," said Ame. "What I require now is Top and the camera. Go play in the other room while I finish up here."

"Okay!" Dia jumped away from her father and danced away to the other room.

Ame bent towards Brock. "Dr. Harrison?" she asked. "We need to finish the video. I need you to sit in the chair." She motioned to Top, who grabbed Brock by the scruff of the neck and hauled him right back into the chair. "Good. Now, let us conclude this."

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Serena immediately found herself on the business end of a gun.

"Silver," said Jenny. The two of them were standing in Jenny's bedroom, Serena with her arms above her head and Jenny aiming the extra gun she kept under her pillow right at Serena's visor. "I thought we were going to call if there was going to be a meeting."

"We were," said Serena, "but something happened just now and we couldn't afford to wait for your permission. I'm sorry to be calling on you so late."

Jenny nodded and lowered the gun, but still kept her finger on the trigger. "Where's your partner, Gold? I thought he did the talking for your gang."

"He's indisposed at the moment. That's why I'm here to talk with you."

Jenny sighed and rubbed her eyes. On the other side of the room, Growler had lowered its voice to a lithe grumble. "Well, if this is going to be a long visit, I may as well make some tea. Follow me." Serena waited for Jenny to put on a robe before following her out the bedroom door and to the other side of the house. Jenny flipped on the lights for the kitchen. "Huh. Doesn't your friend usually jam my electricity when he shows up?"

"He's really not here, Jenny. It's just me." Jenny offered her a seat at a small dining table.

They talked while Jenny waited for the water to boil. "So how can I help you rangers today?" she asked as she turned the burner on.

"We wanted to know if you've had any unusual police reports in the last forty-eight hours," said Serena.

"Forty-eight hours? Hmmm… There was a disturbance in Aura Town, but that's out of my jurisdiction. They tend to not respond to my requests for evidence very quickly. I heard reports that there was another ranger brawl out there, this one during a field day hosted by some daycare or something."

"No, I mean anything in Goldenrod."

"There was one. Hang on, I'll get it from my office." She left the kitchen for a minute then returned with a small file. "Here it is. It was kinda sketchy, which is why it wasn't taken seriously, but I thought I'd give it a glance just in case there was something to it." She set the file on the table then went back to checking on her pot of water.

Serena opened the file. "What happened?"

"It was just a tip. We got a call last night about a robbery, and that there's been a ranger sighting, so of course I have to go all the way over there to interview the guy. No footage or anything, but the owner gives a description of Ranger Gold that sounds believable. Says some guys tried to rob him then a giant bolt of lightning tore through the store and worked everyone over. Sound like your guy?"

Serena nodded. "That sounds like him."

Jenny's water started boiling, so she poured herself some and grabbed a teabag. She joined Serena at the table. "Now here's my question: why are you so interested to know where your partner is? More importantly, why are you asking me?"

Serena paused. "Jenny, this is a sensitive situation. We've decided to trust that you won't panic and go on a witch hunt."

She nodded. "Go on."

"Ranger Gold had an accident and we've lost track of him. He's deactivated his communicator and we have no way of getting in touch with him. We thought you should be informed of what's happening with the hope that you'll not go after him."

"What exactly happened?" asked Jenny.

"It's classified, I wish I could explain it more clearly," said Serena. "What you need to know is that he likely isn't a threat, but we wanted to keep you in the loop and find out if you knew anything about his movements. That's all."

Jenny nodded. Her tea was finished and she took a deep draught from the mug. "I'd offer you some, but I guess the helmet doesn't come off right?" Serena nodded. "I can't promise we won't do anything, but as long as he remains a non-threatening presence, there's no point in me wasting officers trying to find him. That's the best I can do, Silver."

Serena nodded. "I understand. Thanks." She stood up and looked at the files. "Could you spare a copy of those? I'm sure my team would want to analyze them."

Jenny nodded. "Those are copies. My regular files are all on my computer. And, Silver?"

"Yes?"

"Over the last few months you rangers have been in town, a couple of officers in my tech department have noticed someone is duplicating files from a location that isn't on police property. They haven't traced where those hacks are coming from, but I'm going to make a pretty safe bet here and guess you're the ones doing it. Am I right?"

"We—we don't really mean to. We just didn't know what sort of relationship we were going to have with your department. We wanted to be able to get information if we needed it but didn't have access to it."

"Nevertheless, you can still get the files without my consent, but here you are asking for my help. That's a very good step, even if you did wake me up at three in the morning. I guess what I'm trying to say is thanks for trusting me as much as you are. You didn't need to tell me, but you did. I'll be sure to remember that."

Serena nodded. "We appreciate it. We'll let you know if we hear anything on our end."

"I'll do the same," said Jenny. A moment later, Serena vanished.

Jenny finished the rest of her tea and looked at Growler. "You know, old pup," she said as she scratched it behind the ears, "I think I like dealing with her more than Gold. At least the lights are still on."

Growler gave a small bark of agreement.

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"So that's what we think is going on," said Max. "But we aren't sure what's going to happen."

May nodded. "I just wish he would come back."

"Hey," said Max, and he put his arm around his sister, "it's all going to be okay. Wherever he is, I'm sure he has a reason for what he's doing." He turned and looked at Sarah, still sleeping peacefully in her bed. "He's not going to abandon you. Especially now that he's got a chance to stay."

"But if he's stuck in morph, how can he have a normal life? How will Sarah feel, knowing she'll never be able to see his face again? How do you think I feel, knowing I can't touch my husband again?" May felt tears in her eyes but brushed them aside.

"Don't worry, sis. We both know how hard 0 has tried to make this work, and I know how hard you've been trying to make this work. The two of you are meant to be together, regardless of what happens. We'll find a way to bring him back and we'll find a way to get him out of that stinky ranger suit."

A little giggle escaped her lips. "But 415 said it would be impossible."

Max waved his hand. "415 doesn't know anything about humans, or how hard they'll try to make things work. If 0 can get trapped in morph, there has to be a way to get him out of it. We just have to figure out what that is. It's all going to be okay. 0 brought me back from being a raving animal. I'm pretty sure we can fix him up too."

May smiled. "Okay, Max. I'll be brave." She looked at her sleeping daughter. "For all three of us." She put her hand on her stomach. "I'm not showing yet, am I?"

Max coughed. "There's no right answer for that, is there?"

"No, there isn't. Other than 'you're glowing'."

"Oh," said Max. "May, you're practically glowing. Not in the way that I glow when I'm doing some hardcore fighting. A good glow."

"Thank you," she said. "Now come on, we should probably get downstairs and see what's left to be done. I think Sarah can be trusted to stay asleep up here."

"Sure thing." Max and May stood up and headed downstairs into Ranger Downs.

The room was very quiet all of a sudden. Lying in her bed, Sarah opened her bruised eyes and saw nothing. May had turned off the lights. She was all alone.

"Daddy," she whispered and, as best she could, Sarah drew the blankets close and wished she could go to sleep.

Quite sudden, there was a crash downstairs. Sarah flinched when she heard it. There was supposed to be bulletproof glass on the windows and doors, so what had gotten through the defenses? She pushed aside her covers and tried to get up, but her chest was in pain and she was forced to sit back down. She took a few deep breaths. It wasn't good to be alone when under attack, that's what her father had taught her. She got up and ignored the pain. "I'm a brave, brave girl," she told herself. "Just like Dad wants." She held onto her side and slowly made her way downstairs and headed towards the entrance to Ranger Downs.

Almost instantly, her mother, uncle, Serena, and 415 jumped out of Ranger Downs and surrounded her. May grabbed her in her arms while Serena and 415 had their fingers hovering over the transformation buttons on their morphers. Max was already uncurling his chains.

"Sarah, honey, why are you awake?" asked May.

"I was—I was listening and then you left and then there was a crash. Dad said we shouldn't be alone, so I had to come down here because you weren't there." Sarah sniffed. "I know it's past my bedtime but I was afraid they'd come back."

"Shhh… I'm not mad, baby. You're a good girl coming down to get us. A brave little girl." She patted Sarah's head. "I'm going to put her to bed in the cot down here. Can you find out what that was?"

Serena nodded. "Go ahead." May, holding Sarah in her arms, ducked down through the entranceway and out of sight. Serena, 415, and Max began sweeping the house.

"Are any of the sensors picking up movement?" 415 asked into her com-link. A few moments later, she announced, "The house is not registering movement outside of us. There is no Dark Gem, but the broken window is on the east side of the house near the kitchen."

"Still, stay on guard," ordered Serena. They approached the kitchen. The broken window was in the corner, right where 0 usually sat at the breakfast table. Where 0's bottle of beer usually sat, there was a small case large enough for a DVD.

"Anybody else think this could be a prank from the neighborhood?" asked Max hopefully.

"Doubt it." Serena looked over the DVD. Written on the case in black marker were the words "Play me, Rangers!" in neat handwriting. "No," she said, "this is definitely something from the Dark Gems."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Max. "Remember the last time they sent us a message via tape?"

"Speculation will get us nowhere," said 415. "Let us retreat to Ranger Downs and see what is on the tape for ourselves." Serena agreed and the three of them made their way back into the headquarters.

May was still trying to get Sarah to sleep. She looked up when the others came in. "Did you find anything?" she asked.

Max nodded. "They sent us a DVD. Which can only be good news."

"Oh dear," said May. "Do you think they have another hostage? What if they have 0?"

Serena shook her head. "I spoke with Jenny tonight. She showed me a report of what appeared to be 0 stopping a robbery. If the Dark Gems had him, I'd bet there'd be another report just to account for the collateral damage alone. They could be making their final move and this is just their way of gloating like always."

May turned to Sarah. "Baby, we're going to have to watch this. I want you to cover your ears and close your eyes, okay? I don't want you seeing what's on it. I'll come stay with you when we're done."

"Okay, Mom," said Sarah.

"Not just 'okay'. Promise me you won't try to watch, Sarah."

"I promise, Mom." She covered her ears, closed her eyes, and turned around in the cot.

Satisfied, May turned to the others. "Alright. Let's see what they want."

415 took the disk from Serena and set in to play on one of the monitors in the main room. When May closed Sarah's door, 415 hit the play button. The video started as bright static, but quickly focused in on the image of Ame's face.

"Hello, rangers," said Ame, in the professional tone she always used when speaking to them. "I have not met some of you formally. I am Ame, and I currently represent our Dark Gem organization. Do not mistake this for a leadership role, merely an obligation. Someone must supervise, after all." She paused and retrieved a bottle of water from an unseen table. She slowly twisted open the cap and drank. When she finished, she placed the cap back on and continued.

"My employers, while amused by your antics, have made the decision that your behavior and existence are not to be tolerated anymore. Simply put, they grow anxious to move ahead with our plans and you possess materials that would allow them to move forward. Materials you are unwilling to give us. From a personal perspective, I understand your reluctance to part with them. The Dark Gold, after all, will require the death of May Birch to be successfully utilized and it is my understanding that Serena Brine is a trusted companion of yours. Nevertheless, we must have both the Dark Gold and Serena Brine. For necessity's sake, we have therefore decided to force your hand."

An image flashed across the screen of a man sleeping in a chair. He was tied with rope, ensuring there could be no possible escape. Ame's voice continued. "This is Brock Harrison, P.M.D., of Pewter Town. Our intelligence suggests you are acquainted with him."

"Brock!" shouted May and Max simultaneously.

"The man we surveyed?" asked 415. "What of him?"

"That's the guy I went on the date with," said Serena. "Why do they have him?"

As if in answer, Ame said, "He is our bargaining chip. Dr. Harrison was foolishly left unattended and, as such, was easy to obtain. I will now show you what Dia was allowed to do to him over the course of several hours."

May screamed and covered her eyes. Max looked sick. They watched as Dia fed upon Brock, rotting away his arms and legs into withered pieces of flesh. They watched them hurt him, debase him, while Brock begged them to stop in what little voice he had left. When it was over, Brock looked like the dead remnants of a torso.

Ame's face returned. "Dr. Harrison, as a result of your negligence, will never walk again. He will never hold anyone again, he will never be able to live by himself again. He is, however, quite alive, or what passes for it once Dia has had her way with her food. We are keeping him alive for the sole purpose of exchanging him. We will trade Dr. Harrison, at midnight tomorrow night, for May Birch, the Dark Gold, and Serena Brine. Coordinates will follow at the end of this video. If you fail to comply with our demands, Dr. Harrison will be completely consumed by Dia and an innocent man will die to spare your lives." Ame bowed her head. "We await your decision." The screen faded to black and a series of coordinates followed that 415 wrote down and inputted into the computer.

"The coordinates are for a rescue building on the south side of Goldenrod," said 415. "The structure is called the 'Goldenrod Pokemon Rescue Society'. They have been in operation for twenty years and are apparently a subsidiary of the Fuji Memorial Volunteer Society based in Kanto."

"Why would she be hiding there?" asked Serena.

"Does it matter?" asked Max. "We need a plan here."

May nodded. "Yes. We're not letting them kill Brock."

"At the same time, May, we're not letting them get you or me," said Serena. "Realistically, we're not in a position to do anything. Max can barely keep up with one Dark Gem, let alone two, and 415 and I aren't exactly heavy-hitters. We're mostly support."

"Speak for yourself," said 415. "We should sneak up and surprise them."

"Uh, they can probably smell my Dark Emerald," said Max. "Not to mention they've probably got security that can rival ours. Odds are good we won't be sneaking up on them."

"Fine, then we should charge through the front door in a shock and awe campaign. Overwhelm them before they have a chance to react and retrieve Brock Harrison that way."

"That's not going to work either," said Max. "Did you not see that video?" He repressed a shudder. "If he's lucky, Brock's going to be quadriplegic for life. He's not going to be able to get up and run away with us. That already makes us down one ranger when we're escaping."

"Wait," said Serena. "What if we teleported out of there? What if we outfitted him with a transmitter and beamed him with us? He doesn't have a Dark Gem like Max, so the transporter likely won't do anything to him." She looked at 415. "Well? Can we do it?"

415 nodded. "Theoretically. I will have to outfit a transmitter he could use, but I should be able to complete one in time. That takes care of the escape plan."

"Wait," said May. "How are Max and I getting out?"

"You're not going to," said Serena. "I'm guessing 415 is already planning to assume your identity for this mission. Right?"

415 nodded again and in a brief flicker her face assumed the exact shape of May's. "It will require some effort. I am taller than she is and do not know her diction, but I will pass for the short time we will need to trick them."

Max groaned. "So I guess I'm the bait to keep them from coming after Brock?"

"Bingo, Max," said Serena. "You can get through the city a lot faster than they can. Lose them and then make your way back home. Think you can do that?"

Max shrugged. "You think I can outrun three Dark Gems?"

"Considering how lax she's been in our last few run ins, I'm guessing Ame isn't really a fighter," said Serena. "I'm also guessing you're faster than a little girl and a giant muscleman. Am I right?"

Max chuckled. "Probably," he said.

"We should contact 0." All of them turned to 415, who shrugged. "Regardless of whether he appears, the fact of the matter is that we may not succeed without him. A transmission will assist in this endeavor."

"Can we even do that?" asked May.

Serena looked away. "We haven't tried it. We figured he wouldn't answer."

"We can send a distress signal to his morpher," said 415. "We will not be able to trace him, but we will be able to communicate with him. I will begin the preparations."

"Good. He needs to know our plan as soon as he can."

415 opened a communications channel. "Ready. Begin transmission."

Serena cleared her throat and approached the communicator. "Uh, 0? This is Serena and everyone. We… Look, we need you to come back. We have a situation going on. The Dark Gems, they took your friend Brock. They're…they've almost killed him, but they've agreed to trade him for May and me. We're trying to—we're going to try a plan and get everyone out, but we could really use your—"

"I think I can handle this better," said 415. "Ranger Gold, this is 415. I am sending coordinates to your morpher for the rendezvous point sent to us by the Dark Gems. Be there at midnight to assist us in the operation. Or not. If you do not, odds are likely your friend will die and we will fail. End transmission." She shut off the machine.

Serena looked at her. "I could have done that."

415 nodded. "I understand. However, I caught an attempt to hack the signal and was uncertain how long you were going to remain on the communicator. I felt this would be faster and get Ranger Gold the information without him being compromised."

"Alright," said Serena. "Next time warn me though. Now, we need to start planning, this operation has to succeed even if he doesn't show up."

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Brock couldn't really feel much of anything.

There was pain, blinding pain, but beyond that he couldn't tell what was going on. His eyes hadn't adjusted to the dim lighting they were keeping him under, and he had the tendency to pass out at random intervals, only coming to when the pain was so severe it shocked him into consciousness.

"I am impressed, Dr. Harrison," said Ame, somewhere in front of him. "I have never seen someone outlast death from Dia's special skills for this length of time. You are to be commended for your tenacity."

"T-Thanks," he grunted. "L-Let me know when I can pick up my freaking medal."

Ame, despite herself, giggled. "Answer me this, Dr. Harrison: do you believe your friends are coming to save you?"

"Of course they are," he gasped.

"Really? Even in your current condition? You are permanently crippled. Your arms and legs will never work again. Many of your internal organs and systems have been damaged beyond repair. Do you think you will even survive the time between now and the exchange?"

"Have to," he mumbled. "Gotta get out of here somehow."

"I do not understand Ranger Gold's friends sometimes."

"What?"

Ame sighed. "Of course you were not told. Ranger Gold is our primary antagonist, and he seems to exist solely for the purpose of infuriating me. He is also the protector of May Birch, whom I do believe you remember."

"Y-Yeah."

"Well, Dr. Harrison, Ranger Gold has thus far prevented two highly intelligent plans of mine from succeeding. Once in Petalburg and another in Orre. Because of this, my contract is nowhere near complete. These actions on Ranger Gold's part have resulted in me continuing my service to my employers which, while admirable and necessary, does leave me with a certain yearning for freedom."

"Why don't you just bail?" asked Brock.

"Bail? Do you mean abandon my position?" Brock made a feeble nod. "I cannot. None of us can. We must obey for as long as our contract requires us. There is no turning back." Ame lowered her head and gripped something in her hand, a small stone Brock couldn't see properly. "We made our decisions long ago. Decisions that have brought you into this predicament." Ame turned towards him and gave him what looked like a sad smile. "I lied earlier. You will live, but there is no life you can lead after Dia has fed on you. You are the first she has ever left alive."

"I feel so special."

"Amusing, Dr. Harrison." She stopped and looked around. She consulted a watch. "It is time. My associates will be here momentarily." She stood up.

"Ame! Ame!" shouted Dia from across the room.

"Are they here?" asked Ame.

Dia nodded. "They are! We just saw two ladies come into the building. They're following the trail."

"Good. Have Top bring Dr. Harrison upstairs so we can join them."

"Daddy!" shouted Dia. "Come get him!" Brock screamed in agony as his mangled body was roughly grabbed and thrown over the shoulder of the gigantic man. "Thank you, Daddy!" The beast didn't responded and followed the others upstairs.

Brock shut out the pain until he was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor in what appeared to by a Pokemon gymnasium. He twisted his head. Across the room were the outlines of two people. He couldn't see them, the lights were still dim, but he was certain it was another two women.

"May Birch," said Ame, "Serena Brine. So glad you could make it. How shall we be doing this exchange?"

"We have our own Dark Gem outside," said a voice that sounded familiar, but Brock wasn't sure he could place it. "With your permission, we'll trade May here as a sign of good faith to let him come inside. You'll get me once Max is outside with Brock."

Ame nodded. "That sounds reasonable, Serena Brine. Send her over and let your pet inside." Serena signaled to May, who nodded and walked over to where Ame and Brock were with her head down. She crouched down to make sure Brock was alright.

"May?" he asked, squinting hard through the haze. The woman, who did look just like May, leaned over to him and placed her finger over her mouth, asking for his silence. Brock just grunted and looked to the other side of the room again.

"Your pet may enter," said Ame.

"Thank you," said Serena. She reached up and cupped her left ear. "You can come in now." A few seconds later, Brock distinctly heard a series of growls coming from somewhere close by. A monster smashed through a door covered in green armor and began emitting a series of snarls. It approached Serena and awaited instructions. "Take Brock and get him out of here." The monster turned to Brock and nodded its head. It walked across the gym.

Ame and the others backed away from him. The beast heaved Brock up onto its shoulder and ignored Brock's pained protests. "We have reached an agreement. Your pet leaves now and you will be taken into our custody." The monster that had grabbed him seemed to understand this and took Brock away. Brock's last sight of the room was the woman, who appeared to have white hair, looking back at him with a determined smile.

The monster shoved him outside and lightly set him on the ground. Brock tried to sit up, but his arms couldn't support his weight and he fell on his side. He watched the monster stop and shudder, before something started to emerge from its side. It looked like a Bluetooth earpiece and the monster immediately jammed it onto Brock's ear.

"_Laaaaade_," it growled, seemingly content.

"W-What is going—" He started screaming again as his body vanished into thin air "—on?"

"Oh no, Brock!" shouted someone right next to him. "I'm so sorry!" He screamed again as someone started dragging him across a floor and laid him down on his back.

He blinked. "M-May? But I…"

She nodded. "I know. I'll explain everything in a little bit. But right now we should get you on some painkillers. I have some morphine that can…"

Brock stopped listening. He just watched everything get darker and darker until it all faded to black.

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Serena slowly walked across the gymnasium.

She had to be certain the plan had succeeded before she could do anything. 415 was sitting silently, trying not to draw attention to herself from an organization that would see through her disguise the instant she opened her mouth. It wasn't until she heard May's voice on the communicator.

"Silver, this is Ranger Downs. He just got in. Phase one is finished. Get away and come on home!"

Serena didn't let the message have any effect on her facial expression. She walked across and took her position next to 415. Ame smiled and approached them.

"I apologize we went to such lengths to capture you two," she said. "It was, however, a necessary evil. In time, you will come to realize the decision you made today was the correct one." Her smile widened. "Even if we did only obtain you, Serena Brine." She snapped her fingers.

"What?" Serena couldn't ask much else, because Top grabbed both her and 415 in his arms and wound his hands around their necks.

"I am unsure whether to be insulted or honored by this gesture," said Ame. "On the one hand, you think me incapable of discerning whether May Birch is standing in front of me. On the other, with all three of you rangers here, May Birch is unguarded due to that little mishap Ranger Gold is going through." She turned to Dia. "Go retrieve her this instant before Eme can return to their hideout."

Dia nodded. "Can do, Ame!" She turned to Top. "I'll be right back, Daddy! Love you!" She started skipping her way out of the room, at which point a giant stream of lightning burst through one of the windows and fried her brains out.

"Owwwwww!" shouted Dia and rubbed her head. "Daddy, I got electrocuted! Do something!"

Top made no motion, partially because he was still holding 415 and Serena hostage but also because of a gesture from Ame. She looked around for the point of entry and found the broken window at the top of the building.

"Up there!" shouted Ame and pointed towards a figure in the window frame. Dia started winding the chains for her transformation around her body.

In response, Ranger Gold jumped from the window and landed on all fours in the middle of the gym. He barely even flinched, even though a fall from such a height should have easily fractured his legs, and surveyed his surroundings. Only when he was certain that no one had made a motion against him did he stand up.

He wasn't looking good. He was breathing heavily and his body seemed stuffed with electricity. Every few seconds a series of sparks would form in various places around his armor and brighten up the darkened gym. Extra electricity shot out from his armor if he so much as twitched a muscle. He looked from one side of the gym, where Top and Ame were waiting with Serena and 415, to the other where Dia was waiting to transform.

"Finally showed up, huh?" said Serena in an exasperated tone.

0 shrugged. "Always did like a dramatic entrance," he said. "Move two centimeters to the side." Serena and 415 jerked themselves just enough to obey him and, in a flash, 0 emerged right in front of Top and drove him into the wall. Top, in his surprise, released the two and they regrouped away from Top.

"0, we need to talk," said Serena. "With what's been going on—"

"There's no time right now," said 0. "You two need to get out of here."

"No," said Serena. "You listen. You abandoned everyone. You need to come back and explain what's—"

"Silver!" he shouted. "I swear to you and the others it wasn't my intention to abandon anyone. My morpher's communicator malfunctioned and I lost my com-link when I was trapped. I was in no position to contact you until you managed to signal me. I promise you and May I'll be back, but I need to take care of something first. Now transport out of here! That's a direct order!"

Serena grumbled. "Fine. But you'd better get back soon. Your wife misses you and so does your team. And we're going to want a real explanation!"

"Understood, Silver. 415, signal May for the transport. Tell her I'm sorry, but I can't be near you all right now. I'll be back once I fix something."

415 nodded. "Ranger Downs, transport both myself and Ranger Silver. Ranger Gold is remaining." A moment passed. "He appears stable, but requires additional time. We will fill you in once we return." The two of them flashed, then vanished.

0 turned towards Ame. "Now then, where were we?"

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Serena and 415 reappeared inside Ranger Downs. Within two seconds, May was on them.

"What did he look like?" asked May. "Is he okay? Can he come back?"

Serena held up her hand. "Hang on, May. We'll fill you in later, but right now we need to look at your friend Brock."

"I know, but—"

"May," said 415, "your husband is fine. Prioritize your concerns."

May nodded. "Of course. I've set him up on the medical table, but I really don't know what we can do." Serena and 415 followed her into the medical room, where the twisted mass that was once Brock lay withering on a high table. "He…he isn't well."

"Excuse me," said 415 and proceeded immediately to the table. "Brock Harrison? Brock Harrison, can you hear me?" She checked his responses with a small flashlight. "He is unresponsive, but he is breathing. His eyes are not responding to outside stimulus, even in the manner that would be characteristic of an unconscious person. He may be blind."

"Blind?" asked May. "Can we fix him?"

415 looked at her. "That depends. Do we appear to have access to a fountain of youth?"

"415, don't be rude," said Serena. "Is there anything we could do?"

415 shrugged. "We were able to replace 0's shoulder once. Theoretically it is possible to give him cybernetic prosthetics. But we had a team of specialists to generate the shoulder. I am unsure whether I would be able to keep him alive long enough to generate the machines necessary to allow him to live a normal life."

"We need to try," said May. "Brock…he's done so much for 0 and me over the years. We can't just let him die like this."

Serena put her hand on May's shoulder. "I know, May. We won't let him die. We'll fix him, somehow. Come on, I'll make you some tea and fill you in on 0. 415, I want you to hook Harrison up to whatever supplies we have and assess what we can do for him."

"Aye," said 415 and watched the two leave. Once they were gone, 415 turned to the heap of flesh that had once been Brock Harrison and began her diagnostics.

"Brock Harrison," she said. "Can you hear me?" She injected him with another dose of morphine.

Brock blinked, but his eyes still weren't reacting to light. "Y-Yeah?" he asked. "Where am I?"

"You are in Ranger Downs," she explained. "This is the base of operations for the team formerly known as the PKM Rangers. We are an anti-terrorist unit at war with the Dark Gems who kidnapped you."

"T-That made sense. Any idea why they did this to me?"

"You were kidnapped because you have sentimental value to May Birch and Agent 0. The Dark Gems used you as a pawn to further their agenda. We succeeded in rescuing you and escaping ourselves. Now we're assessing the damage to your body to see what can be done to repair you."

"That's morphine, right? It feels great." He sighed and closed his eyes again. "I still can't see anything. I thought it was temporary, but I guess I really can't see."

"Quite possible considering the trauma you have been subjected to," said 415.

"I'm guessing my prognosis isn't good, eh doc?"

"My designation is 415. And no, your prognosis is not good."

"415? That's a weird name. What's the damage, 415?"

She finished her initial report. "Your limbs are completely gone. It would require years of physical therapy to even regain the feeling, much less the use, of your limbs. You will never recover. Your internal systems appear undamaged, but the trauma the Dark Gems inflicted may have caused problems for your respiratory and circulatory systems. And your optic nerves are likely dead from shock."

"You're right. That doesn't sound good."

"My superior has suggested we may have some success with cybernetic implants, but it is uncertain whether they can even be designed. It will require time, likely more time than we have considering your condition. We will have to wait and see whether this option is even advisable."

"And if it isn't?"

"You will die. Now that you are involved in our conflict, and even though you are useless, odds are good you can never leave this bed. You can never leave our base. We cannot take you to a hospital, because they would find you. We can only hide you here. We will likely have you declared legally dead by the police." She paused and looked down. "If it comforts you, this is not ideal for us either."

"You know, you sound a lot like the other one. That girl Ame."

"I have never noticed a resemblance. I will now continue your examination and prepare your accommodations."

Brock groaned. "Well, might as well. Looks like I'm not going anywhere for a while."


	33. Morph 33

As an author's note, I will say that the events of this chapter run almost concurrently with **Morph Thirty-Two**. And, once again, we continue...

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**Morph Thirty-Three: Dragon's Rage**

"0! 0, the energy's building up!"

Ranger Gold looked around. The battle was dying down. The Dark Gems were withdrawing, which meant that the pent-up rage inside him had nothing to do anymore. He just stood there in the middle of the battlefield until the panicked voice on his arm prompted him to react.

"0! 0, can you hear me?" the Pikachu shouted. Its voice seemed so distant. Shouldn't its voice be in his ear? "0! Lift the morpher up to you!" That's right, he didn't have ears anymore. He could still hear, but something else was responsible for that now.

He lifted the morpher up to see Pi's panicked expression superimposed on the screen. "0, we're starting to build up too much energy! You need to get away from here!"

"What?" he asked vaguely. He still wasn't sure what was going on.

"There's a massive energy being generated from your body. If it detonates, it'll destroy everything around here! You have to run somewhere far away!"

"Energy? I'm still not understanding."

"You're trapped in morph!" Why was Pi yelling so loudly? "The energy you usually expend while fighting isn't going away! It's just building up! You're going to explode!"

"Explode? That's not good, is it?"

"No it's not good! What's wrong with you?"

"Not sure." Everything felt weird. He was all alone, but someone was running up to him.

"Sweetie!" It was May, he distinctly remembered her voice. She ran up to him and grabbed him. "0, are you okay? Talk to me!" He looked down and stared at her. She looked so pretty.

"0, we have to leave now!"

"Leave?" asked May. "Why? Where are you going?"

0 nodded. "I'm—not sure exactly. I'll be back soon. Pi, let's go." May tried to hold on, but he was too quick. He simply vanished with a crack of lightning.

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He wasn't sure how long he kept running, only that when he resurfaced it was nighttime. He looked up and saw a few stars through the city lights around him. "Where am I?" he asked and looked around. He was on top of a building, with no idea how he'd gotten there.

"0?" asked the Pikachu in his morpher. He lifted the device up to his face and Pi's face flashed into the screen. "Thank goodness. Are you feeling any better?"

"Not really. I feel really funny, Pi." He sat down on a nearby edge and let his legs dangle with the wind. "It's like my whole body's been turned inside out." He looked himself over, he was still in the armor. "I want to take this off. Can you do that?"

Pi's face looked nervous, and it didn't respond for a moment. "I'm sorry, 0. You can't. There was a lot of rage in your last transformation. It trapped you in morph."

"Oh." 0 was trying to remember. In his mind's eye, he saw a girl fall in battle, injured by a monster. He remembered a red haze flow over him, and a scream that silenced everything around it. He remembered the hate, the anger. "I guess May's going to be mad at me," he said. "I let Sarah get hurt."

"You didn't let anyone get hurt," said the Pikachu. "You got caught in an impossible situation and made a choice to protect everyone."

0 shrugged. "I suppose," he said, then he remembered something. "Didn't you say I was going to explode or something? Isn't that why I started running?"

"Yes," said Pi. "I noticed it right after you transformed. Your body is producing a lot more energy than it usually does due to the transformation. It's boosting your power and everything, but there's a lot of energy that wasn't being used and it was getting to a critical point because of your emotions. You were about to explode and kill everyone."

"Am I still going to explode?"

"No," said Pi. "The energy's gone down from the critical point, but it could happen again. That's why I suggested we get out of there."

"Shouldn't we tell the others what's going on?"

"I've been trying. The com-link that was in your helmet is gone."

"Gone?"

"Yeah," said Pi. "Guess it got converted into infrared data with the rest of your physical self under the armor. The signal in our morpher's dead too, so we're on our own for now."

"Why is the signal gone?"

"Who knows? There's only been one other ranger stuck in morph and that guy's dead. We're in uncharted territory as far as the Ranger System is concerned. If we wait, maybe they'll contact us. The morpher should still be able to pick up messages from Ranger Downs."

But there was nothing. 0 sat on the ledge for a while, watching the night sky slowly turning to dawn. People started walking around on the streets, but no one noticed him above them. "Hey, Pi?"

"Yeah?"

"If I explode, will I die?"

The Pikachu thought for a moment. "I don't think so. All that's happening is a buildup of energy. Once it reaches the critical point it'll just get released, but you shouldn't explode."

"Why not?"

"This really isn't my strong suit but I'll try to explain," said Pi. "Basically the energy's being collected from the infrared data your body turned into and it's being stored in the armor. But because the armor's used to receiving power from your physical body, the infrared data is supercharging the armor. The armor will detonate, but you'll reform into a new armor with better containment that can handle the infrared code better than the armor you're wearing now. Same thing that happened with the old Golden Ranger."

"Huh. Well, should we try and trigger the explosion so I can go back home? I don't want them to worry about me."

"If we do it now, it could level several city blocks."

An idea popped into 0's head. "What if we used it against the Dark Gems? Would it hurt them?"

"That's a great idea. If we can figure out a way to generate the explosion right next to them, it'll cripple them. This thing has a huge blast radius. We could concentrate it on one of the Dark Gems and vaporize it!"

"That could work if we found out where they were," said 0. "We can't trace them if we can't go back to Ranger Downs."

"They'll slip up soon. Don't worry, we'll figure this out."

"I hope so," said 0. He looked around and stood up. "I'm starting to feel better."

"Good. Now, why don't we figure out a plan of action? We can't stay on this rooftop until the Dark Gems show up again. We need a plan."

"Plan?" 0 looked down, he noticed that there were a few men in masks walking down the street. "That doesn't look good, does it?"

"Probably not," Pi agreed.

There were about five of them, all wearing matching ski masks, though they all varied in color. 0 noticed the man in the red mask seemed to be the leader, since he was walking in front and was concealing the largest handgun. The other four followed the leader into a small convenient store at the end of the street, just before an intersection.

"I should get down there," said 0. He looked around. "Uh, how should I do that?"

"Maybe you're not back at a hundred percent," said Pi. "I can try diverting enough energy to your legs' armor so you won't break them when you jump down."

0 looked down the ledge of the building. "That's a long way down," he said to the morpher. "We'd better be careful, Pi."

Pi chuckled. "I've done this a few times. I think we'll be good." 0 nodded and decided to trust the mouse. "I've finished the calibrations. We can jump. Once we're down there, start running for the convenience store. I'll start up the Synchronization Drive."

"Sounds good. Let's go!" 0 crouched down and jumped right off the building, soaring across the street to the other side. "Yahoo!" he shouted. He then landed, but failed to balance himself properly and crashed face-first into the ground.

"0!" shouted the Pikachu. "Are you alright?"

0 picked himself up. "Yeah," he said, and stared at his arms. Nothing was broken, not even his back or legs. "I guess so. Nothing hurts."

"Of course it wouldn't," Pi realized. "There's nothing left to break. Get up, people will see you!" It was true that there actually weren't too many people out right at dawn, but a little stealth never hurt anyone. 0 jumped up and dashed into the convenience store.

It was quite a sight. An entire gang of thieves wearing multicolored masks pointing all their guns at the one little old man who happened to be manning the store. The manager, a portly man who was barely tall enough to see over 0's chest had his hands behind his head while the blue thief busied himself with emptying the cash register. While they held the manager at bay, the other thieves seemed to be doing their best to wreck the store and eat all the sweets they wanted. Then 0 entered, a giant man wearing gleaming armor that covered him up completely.

In next to no time, 0 found himself on the business end of five different handguns, none of which belonged to people who looked happy to see him.

"Uh…freeze?" said 0, uncertain of the protocol for the situation.

The entire gang started laughing at him. The red thief even got close to him and pointed at his chest with the gun. "You a fool, you know that?" inquired the thief. "Coming in here messing up our business. And what's that thing you're wearing? Ain't you too old for Halloween?" Then he pointed at the insignia. "And a Pikachu? That's really the best you could come up with?"

"But I like Pikachu," said 0. "It's my partner."

"Funny, fool. Too bad you're so stupid." Then he pulled the trigger and emptied his whole gun into 0's chest.

0 was thrown back by the force of the eight bullets, he hadn't braced himself properly. He crumpled against a nearby display for a soda and fell to the floor, immobilized. The gang leader laughed and returned his attention to the manager. The blue thief resumed his quest to liberate all the manager's money from the cash register.

"Ow!"

The hang leader froze, and then slowly turned around. Getting back on his feet was a very much alive Ranger Gold. "That hurt!" 0 shouted. The red thief traced 0's body with his eyes. He saw eight bullets stuck in the armor of 0's chest. "That really hurt!" 0 started feeling angry again.

"How're you still—" The red thief didn't finish asking his question, because the Gold Ranger vanished then suddenly reappeared close enough to deliver a roundhouse kick that sent the youth flying into the wall.

0 watched the boy fall to the ground. Electricity shot out of his body and shorted out the power system in the store. The entire room plummeted into darkness, which the other four thieves took as a signal to start shooting everything.

0 ran over and grabbed the manager. The two of them ducked behind the counter, where the metal plating the man had installed kept them safe from the barrage of bullets. "You okay?" he asked the manager.

The manager looked himself over and nodded. "I think so, sir. Are you one of those rangers from the news?"

0 nodded, but remembered the manager couldn't see. "I am. Want me to take care of the others?"

"I would very much appreciate it."

0 crouched. "If you have a cell phone, call the police. Everything electrical in here's broken, unfortunately. Wish I could've had you trigger a silent alarm." 0 jumped up just as he noticed the manager pulling out an old, outdated cell phone.

"_Go_!"

The Synchronization Drive kicked in for real and everything slowed down. The thieves noticed him and tried to shoot at the lightning he was generating, but he was too quick. In between dodging and swatting away their bullets, 0 found time to punch all of their lights out. First blue, then green, then grey, then purple. It was almost embarrassing how quickly he disarmed then obliterated them. 0 barely had time to enjoy himself before all five thieves were sprawled all over the store. In a moment of personal pride, 0 noticed he'd managed to avoid breaking any of the displays.

0 stopped the Synchronization Drive and stood calmly in the middle of the store. He then tilted his head towards the manager. "On the phone?" he asked.

"I am. Hello, police? I'd like to report a robbery."

0 nodded and started for the door, but stopped when something caught his attention at the newsstand. "Hey, Pi. You see that?"

A pause. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. No. No way that works."

0 shrugged. "We need a place to hide out, right? Why not in plain sight?" He looked at the manager. "Mind if I borrow one of these papers? I promise I'll bring it back."

The manager waved him away. "Take it. It's a reward."

0 waved. "Thank you," he said and scooped up the paper. A split-second later, he vanished.

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Two hours later, 0 was sitting comfortably in a chair in the middle of a hotel.

"This is ridiculous," said Pi. "I can't believe this worked."

It had been a simple matter to locate the Crown Royal Hotel on the south side of Goldenrod. It was a huge building, and considering 0 had memorized much of Goldenrod's important landmarks he wound up there in next to no time. All that had been necessary was ensuring he hadn't been seen arriving and the rest would take care of itself.

Fortunately, there was a lot more to stare at.

0 had heard of these things called conventions before, but never understood them to the extent that he did now. There had been no problem with getting in unnoticed. His armor scarcely qualified in the top hundred most interesting costumes being paraded around. Across the hall he saw what had to be the most intricate costume of a Jigglypuff he'd ever seen in his life. He watched a man go around the corner wearing what appeared to be period clothing from the sixteenth century with a traditional katana. Every now and then he'd wave it and an Axew would spin out from the weapon just like a Poke Ball. He still wasn't quite sure what the theme of the convention was, only that they seemed to be celebrating Pokemon.

"Well, it sounds like you're back to your old self," said Pi with a notable air of relief. "You were starting to freak me out."

"Sorry about that," said 0. "I really can't describe it. It was like being drunk, only not as fun. The whole thing felt like an out of body experience."

"I guess that makes sense. But we still need to figure out a way to get in touch with Ranger Downs. I've been tinkering with the morpher, and it's no dice. It took all I had to make sure it was able to receive a signal from headquarters. And of course we don't have a com-link, which would be easiest."

"Why'd the com-link get lost? It's not even part of my body."

"I'm going to guess everything inorganic just got lost in translation. So your clothes, your com-link, even that fake shoulder of yours. It's like it rebooted your body. I bet if you could change back your scars would all be gone."

"Well, we can't worry about that. What we need to be worrying about are our friends. Without us, odds are good they won't stand much of a chance if the Dark Gems come back."

"We can't get close to them, you know that," said Pi.

"I don't understand that. I've been in control of myself all this time around these people and I was pretty calm until they decided to hurt Sarah. I'm calm now, so I should go back."

"0, do you really think that you'll be able to stay calm? Think about it. Picture Sarah, broken and hurt, lying on a bed, all because you couldn't do anything to help her when she needed you."

0 did just that. He thought of his little girl covered in casts, surrounded by the others. None of them would judge him, after all it wasn't _his_ fault that he wasn't strong enough to protect her. He was just the only person that could have done anything about it. He started to growl and felt the anger boiling inside him…

"0! Calm down!"

"Huh?" Without realizing it, he noticed that his body was starting to overproduce electricity again. Several of the people in costume were staring at him. He calmed his mind and the electricity subsided.

"Dude, that was so cool!" shouted some guy dressed up as a Butterfree. "How'd you do that?"

"Yeah!" said a girl dressed up as Ponyta. "Did you put wiring in your costume?"

0 nodded. "Uh, yeah. Took a lot of effort to install."

"You should so enter the costume contest!"

"Maybe," said 0. "Excuse me, please." He removed himself as quickly as possible from the circle that was starting to form around him. "Man, that was close. We okay, Pi?"

"We're fine," said the Pikachu. "For now. But the energy surplus was heading in the direction of the critical point. You see what I mean about avoiding potentially upsetting places?"

"Okay, you win. We stay away for now. But we still need to let them know I'm alright. I've been gone for over twenty-four hours. What if they think I've abandoned them?"

"I'm sure nobody thinks that,' said Pi. "They probably just think you need some time to yourself. Either way, we'll get this situation sorted out before they start panicking."

"Well, we should make a plan. We can't sit around all day staring at our thumbs."

"Present company excluded, I'm sure." Pi thought for a moment. "If we're going to do anything, we should figure out where the Dark Gems are hiding."

"Right, but we don't know where they are."

"That is a problem, but not a major one. We should get to a computer and do some digging."

"Where?" 0 gestured at himself. "I'm not exactly wearing something we can just walk around in."

"What if we went to Brock's hotel? He's probably already checked out and the staff won't have gotten to his room yet. We could probably just swing by his place, break in, and use the computer there."

"You sure there's a computer there?"

"It's a hotel where humans vacation," said Pi. "How could a hotel be without something humans need to live?"

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Brock's hotel wasn't hard to find either. 0 and Pi worked out the location to the Crown Royal Hotel and scaled the walls with static electricity until they reached the roof. From there, it was a simple matter. 0 had studied Brock's movements and figured out exactly which hotel he was staying at and where it was. The Gold Ranger then crouched and leapt across the street to the next building, then repeated the process until they arrived.

"Which room was Brock staying in?" Pi asked.

"It was one of the higher floors. 3310 was the number."

"Okay. Well, let's get to the roof and go from there. Try not to get spotted by the guests. I'm guessing they're paying good money to not see men scaling their walls."

0 nodded. "Can do." He jumped again and found himself grabbing onto the ledge of the twentieth floor. The static charge in his gloves held, so he continued climbing up the walls. They passed a few people in their rooms, but no one really noticed them. It was midday and the majority of the denizens still inside the hotel were sleeping in beds that, to 0, looked exceedingly comfortable.

He reached the thirty-third floor. "Okay. Which one is ten?" 0 found it incredibly uncomfortable to scrunch his body upwards to see Pi on the morpher's display.

"Two to the left," said Pi.

"Thanks." 0 started moving again, this time slinking left instead of up, and finally came to the correct balcony. "Uh, Pi. I don't think this is it."

"What do you mean? That's 3310."

"Well, it's not empty. There's a guy tied to the bed wearing a Blastoise mask."

"What? Hang on." A few moments later, Pi said, "It's one more to the left. I miscalculated."

"I'll bet you did." 0 kept moving until he came to the actual correct balcony. "Here we go. Completely devoid of people wearing Pokemon masks."

"Glad to hear it," said Pi. "Get onto the balcony and get in."

0 gripped the ledge and heaved himself up to the balcony. He got back up on his feet and approached the glass door. Sure enough, there wasn't anyone inside. Though the bed hadn't been made, everything else looked about the same. 0 tried the door and, surprisingly, it opened without needing to be broken into. "That's odd. Unlocked."

"Well, of course it is," said Pi. "There probably aren't too many people like us who can slink up here and break in through that door. Plus, think of the lawsuits the hotel would get if someone got trapped out there without the balcony door key."

"Fair point," said 0. "But what about that?" 0 looked to the bed. There were a number of articles of clothing, as though someone had been packing and forgot about them. "And the suitcase there." A still-open suitcase was on the other side of the room.

"Maybe we got here in the middle of Brock's packing."

"Why would he leave the room in the middle of packing?" asked 0.

"He could be in the bathroom. Go check."

Though 0 really did not want to peek in on Brock in the shower, he complied and went over to the bathroom door. It was slightly ajar so he gently pushed it open, careful to avoid it creaking and alerting anyone to his presence. 0 then spotted a body, but it didn't belong to Brock.

"Pi, you see that?" he asked.

He heard the Pikachu gulp. "Yep. That's a dead body."

0 opened the door all the way and walked in. There was a girl's body in the shower, only it didn't look like a woman anymore. She looked like a Mummy. "Pi, remember that Conner case a while back? The pictures?"

"Yeah. This looks just like that."

0 surveyed the body and noticed two Poke Balls attached to her belt. "Those could tell us who she was. We could get her trainer number." He grabbed them and carried them over to the sink. "Do you think Brock did this?"

"No," said Pi. "Look around. There's blood on the floor. Mummified remains wouldn't do that." The Pikachu was right, there was a small trail of blood on the floor. It was too far away from the body. "Somebody was injured here. I'm guessing it wasn't the girl. It had to be—"

"Brock," 0 said suddenly. He walked back out into the main room. "He must have been packing and the Dark Gems got to him. They used the girl as a distraction then jumped him." He groaned. "Great. First my family gets hit, and then they go after my friends."

"There's nothing we can do about it now. All we can do is try to find them."

"How? Hold up. We've got Pokemon in balls in there. Maybe they can help."

"Do you think they saw anything?" asked Pi.

"It's worth a shot. Best lead we have right now. Nobody ever remembers Poke Balls." He walked back into the bathroom and clicked the two buttons. Two Pokemon materialized, one Darmanitan and one Elgyem. Both immediately assumed a battle stance, confused as to their surroundings.

"_Darmani_," grunted one. It looked at 0. "_Tan! Tan!_"

Elgyem looked at the body. "_Gyem gyem_!" it shrieked and pointed at the girl.

The Darmanitan's voice faltered. "_M-Mani_," it mumbled. Its head sank low, and 0 could hear the soft sobs it tried so hard to conceal. The tears appeared, then suddenly evaporated due how close they were to its flaming eyebrows.

Elgyem held the Darmanitan and buried its head in its red shoulder. "_El, gyem el_!" it wailed. The two drew close, and even forgot 0 was in the room.

0 looked at them. "Pi, what do I do?" he asked.

"Console them! It isn't like their pet rock died. They just realized they lost their trainer while they were trapped in their Poke Balls. They were probably secured to her belt when she died."

"Right, right," he said. He reached down and gently touched the Darmanitan's shoulder. "_Mani, Man_," he said reassuringly.

The Darmanitan flashed him an expression of pure hate. "_Darmanitan_!" it shouted and shoved him away. "_Manitan darmani_!" It pawed at the ground and, despite the fact that Elgyem was trying to hold it back, charged and knocked 0 into the bedroom.

"_Gyem_!" it shouted, but Darmanitan wasn't listening. All it cared about was bashing 0's head in. It raised its arms and swung, but 0 blocked and tried to hold it off. Darmanitan responded by spitting out a Flamethrower. It quickly became apparent this wasn't going to be a fight 0 was going to be able to win by keeping his distance.

"Pi, activate the Synchronization Drive," said 0. "I'm going to need both Agility and Volt Tackle."

"You can't," said Pi. "It isn't thinking. It's just lashing out because we're all that's here."

"That's exactly why we need to. If it gets passed us and gets out of here, it'll just keep lashing out. We can't exactly let it run wild until it calms down."

"I know, but…" Pi hesitated. "If I was in their situation, I'm not sure I'd be acting any differently."

"Look," said 0, while he desperately tried to stay out of the reach of a Seismic Toss, "I'm not saying I'm in the right here. I'm saying we need to get it under control if we want to help it. Now punch up Agility!"

"Online!" shouted Pi. 0 immediately felt everything start to slow down, just as it always did. The Darmanitan moved, but it was far, far too slow to even touch him. 0 dodged around its mighty arms and delivered a kick directly to its midsection. The beast lurched from the sheer force that 0 was producing, but it wouldn't be enough to completely knock it down.

"Pi," said 0, "Volt Tackle."

0 did his best to hold back the scream that fought to escape as lightning burst from his skin and fried the Darmanitan's body. Darmanitan bellowed like a wounded beast and fell to the carpeted ground. 0 found himself breathing heavily, despite the fact that he shouldn't have had any lungs anymore. But the moment he became aware of this fact, he found his breathing abruptly cut off and simply stood up.

"_Elgyem_!" shouted Darmanitan's partner, who rushed to its side and tried to help it up. It turned to 0 and glared. "_Gyem, gyem elgyem_."

"_Gyem_," 0 apologized. "_Elgyem elgyem gyem el. Elgyem_."

The Pokemon nodded. "_Elgyem_." There were still tears in its eyes, but the Pokemon understood 0's words. It would help.

"_Manitan, darmanitan_," said the Darmanitan, rising up onto its knuckles. It bowed its head in apology and stood silent. 0 could see it fighting back tears.

"I knew they would help," said 0. "Pi, can you get me a picture of Brock on the morpher's display? They might be able to help us track down Brock."

"Yes, one moment." A little bit later, Brock's face flashed onto the screen.

0 showed Darmanitan and Elgyem the picture. "_Manitan maintain. Elgyem elgy_," he said.

The Darmanitan squinted up its eyes to get a closer look. "_Ma_," it said with a nod. It continued, relaying the entire story of how Brock had come to the gym and rescued the Miltank from Darmanitan's accidental overuse of energy. They told 0 of how Brock had saved Milty and helped their trainer escape from the hordes of paparazzi that would not have taken kindly to a woman who had accidentally created a severe injury to one of the biggest mascots of Goldenrod City.

Then, Darmanitan paused, as if the thought of continuing would be too much to bear. Elgyem patted its back and spoke of the last time they saw their trainer alive. They had been in a hotel room, not as nice as the one they found themselves in now. Their trainer had praised them for their performance that day, for how strong they had gotten since leaving Unova to challenge the Kanto and Johto Pokemon Leagues. Then she had put them into their Poke Balls for the night, and that was the last time they had seen her, or hugged her, or heard her voice.

When they finished, both Pokemon were in tears once more. 0 comforted them until they were ready to continue.

"We need to call the police," said Pi. "They need to know there's another body in here."

0 shook his head. "Not yet. If we call this in now, they'll think Brock did it. We have to prove he's innocent. If we can find and eliminate the Dark Gems, we can prove they're the ones who've been doing these murders."

"We still don't know why or how."

"Then we have to find out. There has to be a reason for it. Sappho didn't do it, so it must be something specific Dia and Top are doing." He turned to the two Pokemon. "_Darmani mani darmanitan maintain_."

The Darmanitan shook its head. Its nose wouldn't be quite powerful enough to track Brock's scent over a very long distance, but the Elgyem nodded its head. "_Elgy, elgy_." It could track Brock's aura. It could sense where they went.

0 nodded. "_Elgyem elgy_?"

Darmanitan stomped its knuckles. "_Manitan darma_," it growled. 0 could see the glint of hate in its eyes. It begged for the chance to avenge its trainer.

0 nodded and placed his hand over where his heart should have been. "_Ma_," he said.

The Darmanitan grinned savagely. The two Pokemon got to work. 0 retrieved their Poke Balls from the bathroom. Before they left, Darmanitan and Elgyem went in there and sat with their trainer one last time in a moment of silence. Then they left, their hearts heavy, and never looked back.

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Darmanitan recalled itself into its Poke Ball. It did not want to return, but there was no way it would have been able to travel with 0 and Elgyem. After it disappeared in a brilliant flash of red light, 0 secured the Poke Ball to one of the empty slots on his belt. He wouldn't be able to use it with the Auxiliary Pokemon System, but there wasn't anywhere else to put it. He attached Elgyem's empty Poke Ball to another slot as well, and then surveyed his surroundings.

He wasn't on the top floor of the hotel, but he was very close. He'd stopped at a vantage point that would allow him to reach the nearby buildings and still remain unseen. The simple fact was that, despite how welcoming those at the convention had been, his appearance was highly likely to create a panic if he and Elgyem started walking through the streets.

"_Elgyem el_?" 0 asked. Elgyem scanned for Brock's aura for a few seconds before pointing directly to 0's left. After thanking the Elgyem and making sure it was securely fastened to his back with the blankets they'd taken from Brock's hotel room, 0 had Pi prep the armor's energy for the first jump.

"Careful, 0," said Pi. "Jumping isn't a very well-understood art and this is a long one."

"I'll be fine." Truth be told, it was quite a distance. For whatever reason, Goldenrod had built a gigantic plaza in between his present location and the position of the nearest building. Nevertheless, he took a few steps back and crouched low. "_Go_!"

The world slowed down again, but he was still running forward at breakneck speed. Elgyem held on for dear life as he reached the end of the ledge and jumped straight forward, whizzing through the air like a bird. He barely cleared the jump, but instead of tucking into a roll he just kept running. He came to a stop at the next ledge.

"How was that, Pi?" asked 0.

"Pretty good. Since you don't technically have legs anymore I channeled all the available energy into keeping the armor stabilized. Allowed you to go much faster and jump farther."

"Fantastic. Keep it coming." He turned to Elgyem. "Make sure you keep pointing me in the right direction. If we offshoot, it could take a bit of effort to get back on track."

Elgyem nodded and pointed its arm over 0's shoulder. "_Gyem_," it said with certainty.

"Good enough for me," he said. He started running, following the Elgyem's orders, and kept moving until the Synchronization Drive finally gave out and he came to a screeching halt somewhere. He looked around the rooftops. There were numerous, interchangeable buildings surrounding him. It looked like an office district, but 0 wasn't sure.

"_Elgy elgyem_?" he asked. They'd been running for quite a while and, somehow, he felt tired.

"_Gyem gyem_," said the Elgyem. It loosened itself from the makeshift straps that bound it to his back and lightly levitated to the ground. 0 followed it to the ledge.

"Goldenrod Pokemon Rescue Society?" 0 asked, staring at the small sign at the front of the building. "Why would they hide out there?"

"Last place I'd look for them," said Pi.

"Fair enough." 0 turned to Elgyem. "_Gyem. Elgyem elgy, em_?"

It nodded and glowed briefly. Its Poke Ball detached from 0's belt and floated over. "_Elgyem. Elgyem_," it said in a hard voice. The Poke Ball activated and it vanished. The Poke Ball dropped to the ground, where 0 walked over and reattached it to his belt.

"Don't worry," he said. "We'll make sure you get your revenge." He lifted his morpher up to talk to Pi. "So, what do you think the best plan is?"

"Might want to try heat vision to see where everything is in there," suggested the Pikachu. "After that, we can probably settle in to wait for night. We'll probably stand a better chance at retrieving Brock during the night. Fewer people around." Pi was right, 0 looked down into the street and distinctly noticed several people wandering around. "We need to get Brock, but we can't needlessly risk lives."

0 nodded, but he was feeling anxious. "I know, but Brock's one of my oldest friends. He was the first gym leader I ever battled. He's—"

"I know, 0. He was the first for me too, remember?"

0 decided to sit down and get out of the sun. He took a spot next to a ventilator and rested his back against it. "I'm feeling pretty calm. I wonder if I can demorph now."

"You know you can't," said Pi.

"Yeah, I do. I'm just wondering, is all." He looked at his morpher. "How can I feel tired if I don't really have a body anymore? How can I feel relaxed if there's nothing to relax?"

"It might be that some parts of what were your body are still being simulated, just like how the environment inside a Poke Ball simulates a world a Pokemon can interact with. The armor might need to recharge, and what your body has become interprets that as being tired because that's the closest analogy for it."

"Huh." 0's helmet clanked against the ventilator. "You know, you're a lot smarter than most Pikachu, aren't you Pi?"

There was a chuckle. "Maybe you're just a lot less smart than most humans, 0."

0 looked over his body. "Considering the fact that some of the choices I've made got me stuck like this, I'd be inclined to think that's definitely a possibility."

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It became apparent some time after midnight that something was wrong.

It was a gradual change. Four hours earlier, 0 noticed that his body was feeling heavier. He had attributed it to impatience and nothing more, and the thought was quickly forgotten. But it kept getting worse, until finally he found he couldn't move.

"Pi," he rasped. He hadn't spoken for hours either, his voice had already changed. "Pi, something's wrong."

He could barely hear the mouse. His arm seemed so far away all he heard was a faint whisper. "I don't know. We were fine a few hours ago. But all your systems are dropping. We're running on fumes."

He thought for a moment. "Oh no," he whispered. "Serum. I haven't taken it. I…I completely forgot about it." How long had it been since he'd had his last dose? "It's been forty-eight hours. I need to take it, Pi."

"Do you, though? You don't have a body for the serum to work with. Why would you still need it?"

0 tried to shrug, but his shoulders barely twitched. "M-Maybe the program my body turned into is mimicking my addiction," he said. "I-I think I still need it, Pi. We need to get back to Ranger Downs. We need to get that serum."

"I don't know if we can. I can't communicate with Ranger Downs. I don't think we can activate the teleporter."

"You have to try!" 0 bellowed. "Please, Pi. If I die here, they're all going to die! There's no one to take my powers, there's no one to save them without me. I'm not letting my wife and daughter die because of my mistake!"

"You can barely move," said Pi. Its voice sounded…broken. "You can barely walk. How are you going to pick up that serum and get out before they reach you?"

"Oh I'll get up, if that's what you want," he muttered.

Pain. Blinding, sheering pain shot through him as he tried to find the strength to stand. He stopped briefly, gasping for breath with lungs that no longer existed, and then tried again. More pain, but there was a mixture of rage behind the agony that allowed him to sit up straight. The anger helped, so he let it fuel him until he stood on his feet. All of his limbs were rigid, but he managed to lift his arm up to speak to Pi.

"Are you ready?" he hissed. "I'm…not sure how long this is going to last."

"I—I don't know, 0," it said. "I've got a connection to the teleporter, but it's feeble. We aren't going to be there long. I can give you thirty seconds, then you'll be transported back. No trace, no nothing. And we won't be able to connect again. You have one shot. Are you sure you want to risk it on this?"

0 nodded. "I'll get the serum, I'll detonate the overcharge, and I'll go home myself. Let's do it." If he had a throat he would have gulped. "But I can't do any of those things if I'm dead from withdrawal symptoms."

"I've established the link. Standby."

There was more pain, even more crippling than before. Somehow the infrared code that was his body was not properly attuned to the teleportation process. He felt himself get scrambled, scattered, than reassembled in an instant. He lurched forward the moment he felt whole and smashed into a computer, knocking over something in front of him.

He barely registered what he'd done. All he heard was Pi's voice in the air, screaming at him to hurry. He dragged himself through the room, he could barely remember what he was doing. "Serum," he grunted. "Serum." He reached the counter, but fell over and his head bashed against the floor.

"0, get up! The alarm's been triggered and you've got maybe ten seconds left! Move!"

He did, groaning all the way. He kept crashing, but he eventually grabbed as many vials as he could before the pain ripped through him again. Everything went black.

"0! 0!" Dimly, 0 was aware Pi was trying to wake him again, but for some reason he couldn't see. Everything was blurry, despite the fact that his vision shouldn't have been impaired. He tried to get up, but it was like his body wasn't there. He could see the vials. There were ten, maybe twelve of them scattered in front of him, but he couldn't reach them.

"I need…I have to…" Nothing. The pain returned and he shrieked again. He wished he could clutch himself, escape from the agony, but he just laid strewn across the rooftop, inches away from relief. Inches away from the one thing that could save him.

"No," he mumbled. He could barely muster anything else.

Then, suddenly, he heard a chuckle. "Yes," said the voice. Even though his body was wracked with pain, and he could barely comprehend the world around him, the voice broke through his mind and froze his pain.

There was no way. It was impossible.

He felt something turn him around, shove his back against the roof, and then something pressed down on his throat. It felt like an arm.

"Are you really going to die here, 1076? Is my successor really that weak?"

0 couldn't hear Pi anymore. It took the entirety of his consciousness to comprehend what was happening.

Against all odds, the Golden Ranger was standing over him. It was dark, sure, but there was no mistaking that voice. He recognized the voice, the feel of his hand, and the cold stare of the man's visor.

"N-No," whispered 0. "I watched you die."

0 was certain the old man had a grin underneath the visor. "Oh, little boy," he hissed. "Do nightmares ever truly die?"

0 screamed as his mind slowly began the process of ripping itself to shreds.

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The Golden Ranger was laughing.

0's eyesight gradually returned, but the light was faint in the cave. There was soft blue lining the curved walls and a familiar aroma penetrated his nose. He could smell…

"Wait." He looked down. He was himself, down to the last detail! Arms, legs, face, hair, everything! He pulled the strands of black hair on his head and stretched his arms. They wheezed, as though they'd been somewhere and gotten lazy, but they were there alright. It took him a moment, but he realized that his shoulder was back too. It was his, in the flesh and blood. It was as though he was greeting an old friend again. He took off his shirt, just to get a better look at it.

Then he noticed something else. His scars, the ones he'd earned defending Serena, were still etched onto his body. "Why are these here and my mechanical shoulder isn't?" he wondered. "For that matter, where am I?"

"Because," said the Golden Ranger, rising from a stone he was sitting on by the other side of the cave, "those were deemed necessary. There was a vote. The scars were kept because of what they symbolize. The shoulder was considered more of a lesson in humility than a symbol."

0 grunted. "Alright, but you still haven't explained where I am. Or what any of that meant."

The Golden Ranger waved his arm. "Those questions are not important right now," he said. "You will figure it out. In the meantime, boy, why not try and answer some questions yourself. For instance, have you considered why you are where you are? Does it not seem familiar to you?"

"Come to think of it…" Yes, 0 had definitely been here before. That was why the smell was so familiar. "Why would I have been in a blue cave?"

"Think. Do you remember where you were before you were brought here?"

0 tried, but all that he could remember was pain. "I was hurting. A lot. I was trying to reach something…" He trailed off and gave the Golden Ranger a grimace. "You. You showed up and stopped me. Grabbed my throat. Brought me here."

"Close on several points, but a miss with the last. I suppose even a few years of being in my boots have not been enough to wean the stupid out of you. You are here, in short, because your body is shutting down. This is a near-death experience. Can you think of why that would be familiar to you?"

0 thought for a moment. "I think so. Mewtwo. I remember it tried to kill me. I ran out into a field and I woke up here. But you weren't there, something else was…"

"But you came back. Why was that?"

"I—I'm not sure," he said. "Wait, how do you know that? The only reason I do is because Mewtwo let me remember, and I never told anyone at PKM about it." He backed away from the Golden Ranger. "What are you?"

The Golden Ranger shrugged. "It really depends on the day, really. Right now I exist as a figment of your imagination. You are the reason I am here. Your dying body produced me to comfort you."

"Why would it pick you? Why not my wife or my friends?"

"You should be asking yourself that. I am not responsible for the choices your mind makes," he said. "Perhaps there is something you wish to know from me, or what your mind has constructed from your memories of me. You were never very fond of me in life. I cannot imagine any other explanation."

0 thought. There really was only one thing he could think of to ask him. "Why couldn't you ever morph back? I'm trapped, but every now and then I feel like there are bits and pieces of me that are still there. Is there a way for me to bring my body back?" He looked at himself, then around in the cave. "Is this where my body's trapped?"

The Golden Ranger sighed. "Boy," he said, "did you ever wonder why that morpher works the way it does? Why I gave you the Auxiliary Pokemon System, the Synchronization Drive, everything? Why I kept none of it for myself? I am sure the thought has crossed your mind."

"Pi and I thought it was because you couldn't use either of them. That you couldn't generate the emotional stress necessary to trigger the equipment."

"Interesting theory, but no," he said. "The real reason is much simpler than that, boy." The Golden Ranger pointed at his chest, where his heart would have been. "There was nothing here. You mentioned that you can sometimes feel bits and pieces of yourself inside your trapped body. I never could. There was nothing for the system to respond to. That was why the morpher could not work for me in the way it does for you." The Golden Ranger than laughed. "And, because I knew the Dark Gems were coming and my…modifications would be needed, it was necessary you take the morpher.

"Now, whether you truly are trapped is another question entirely. I told you I was trapped because there was nothing for me to go back to." He paused, then looked at 0. "I ask you, is there anything for you to go back to? Is there anything that has so much meaning to you that you can will your own body back into existence?"

"I…yes, of course," he said. "My wife, my daughter, my friends. I can't stay in the armor forever. I can't not hold May or Sarah. I couldn't live a normal life with them if I stay like this." He looked at his hands and clenched them into fists. "I have to go back. For my family. For my friends."

"So go back. What is stopping you?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm worried."

"About what?"

"I'm worried I might not be strong enough to protect them. Being trapped in morph seems to give me a lot of power, maybe enough to take them out. I'm just worried it might not be enough."

The Golden Ranger nodded. "Would it put you at ease to know the systems I designed into your morpher are powerful enough to conquer your foes?"

"I don't think it would."

"Good, because that was a lie. The ranger system is only as powerful as the user. And it is not as simple as believing in yourself, or trusting fate, or whatever hokum it is people think of when they consider inner strength. The system does have limits. For instance, your Cario Form is more powerful than Rio Form. Why?"

"Uh, because Lucario is a fully evolved Pokemon and a Riolu isn't."

"Good. Maybe you do have a spark of intelligence. But your Lucario is still weaker than others of its species, correct?"

"Well, it's still relatively young."

The Golden Ranger pointed at 0. "Same with you. Compared to me, anyway. You are still young, yet you are trying to obtain power beyond what you should have. Did you consider this might be the problem? Did you consider that might be the reason you perceive yourself to have insufficient power? Trying to run before you can walk, 1076?"

"Hadn't thought about it like that," said 0. "But I can't just wait to get the power while my friends are in trouble."

"I agree. In that case, you should do what comes naturally in these situations."

"Which is?"

The Golden Ranger smacked him across the head. "You should rely on your team. If you are not strong enough, so be it. But is your team strong enough to face this threat? And are you not part of that team? If so, then there is no need for you to run so abruptly."

That did seem to make sense. "I know I should have known that," he muttered.

"The world does not always revolve around you, boy," said the Golden Ranger. "Though I admit sometimes it is possible to forget how the forces of gravity work. It is something we take for granted."

0 looked at him. "You know, you're a lot nicer than I remember you being when you were alive," he said.

"That is because this is not me. This is just your reconstruction of me, with a few tweaks here and there." He chuckled. "Believe me, were the actual me to greet you in the afterlife, you would not recognize me." He looked at his wrist, consulting his morpher like a watch. "Well, I am afraid that is all the time we have. You should be ready by now. Once you detonate, your armor will reform into something that can stabilize the excess. I would suggest not being around your loved ones when you detonate.

"Goodbye, boy," he said. "Let us try not to meet again for a while, eh?"

0's head started to hurt, and then everything went black again.

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"0, please wake up!"

0 just remembered a blinding wave of pain that rippled through his body like a tsunami. There would be a few moments where the pain would subside, and he believed the worst was over, before the pain returned en masse and he groaned again. He rolled over and noticed the moon was high in the sky.

"Ugh," he grumbled and scrunched himself up into a seated position. "This really, really hurts."

"Oh thank goodness," whispered the mouse. "0, you can never, ever do that to me again."

"Do what? I was only out for a minute."

"_You were out for a day_!" it shouted. "I sat on your arm and shouted and shouted, but nothing worked. It was like you were dead." 0 detected an undercurrent in its tone. "I was so…so worried."

It was crying, he realized. "Pi, I'm sorry," he said. His head sunk low, his chin touching his chest. "I didn't know. It seemed like it was only a little while. I was out of it, in a big way." It wasn't helping, the Pikachu was still crying.

"You know, it's not just May or Sarah that'll miss you," it said. "She's your wife and Sarah's you daughter, and I understand that. Serena's your partner and I understand that, and you're so close to Max and 415. But you knew me first, 0. We met twenty years ago and you don't seem to understand that they're not the only people that worry about you. I do too."

0 caressed the morpher. "I know, Pi," he said. "You're not my Pokemon, you never were. You're my brother. I've never forgotten that. I wouldn't be who I am without you too." He paused. "I love you like my own flesh and blood, buddy."

Pi stopped crying, just for a moment, and offered a slight chuckle. "Poor choice of words at the moment," it said. He and it shared a laugh.

"I guess we know one thing for sure," he said, and looked at the still-filled vials of serum. "Guess I kicked the habit. Who knew losing your body could be so good for your long-term health?"

"At least you can quit now," said Pi in agreement.

"Well, you were here. Did I miss anything while I was gone?" 0 asked. He stood up and stretched his arms.

"Actually, yes," it said. We received a transmission from Serena and the others. They're making their move on the Dark Gems tonight."

"What happened?" 0 listened as the mouse filled him in on the transmission, and when the mouse was finished he nodded his head. "That sounds like bad news. We'd better help them."

"I agree," it said.

"Wait." 0 looked up at the sky, the moon was still there. "What time is it now?"

"It is twelve-ten. Because of you, we're late."

"Oh. Well, we'd better get over there, huh?"

"I'd say that'd be for the best."

"Alright. Well, we'd better make an entrance," said 0. He immediately had Pi begin preparations for the jump to the volunteer building.

"Wait. 0?"

"Yes, Pi?" he asked.

"Get angry. We're going to need that detonation to go home, remember?"

0 nodded. "I think I have plenty to be angry about. Should be therapeutic."

He braced himself, and then jumped.

There was some form of discomfort, he noticed, as he landed. He felt something shoot up his legs and drive him to his knees. It didn't make him shout, it didn't make him question anything. It was just pain. Pain to be converted to annoyance. Annoyance to be converted to anger. As he rose, his body began overcharging, and by the time he resumed movement again he saw quite a little bit of lightning jumping out of his armor.

He found them just as Serena started walking across the length of a gymnasium. His attention immediately focused itself on the fact that May was on the other side, held by the Dark Gems.

"No way," said Pi. "May? Why are they risking her?"

0 shook his head. "It's not May. Look at the way she's standing. It's 415. Whoa!" Ame was doing something, ordering Top and Dia around. "Guess they figured that out."

"We've gotta do something!" shouted Pi. "Let's go!"

"Right," he said. He concentrated the electricity into one of his fingers and pointed it through the window at the skipping Dia. "Bang!" The window shattered and a giant stream of lightning blasted out of his fingertip, shattered the glass, and ripped straight through Dia.

"Good entrance," said Pi, while 0 climbed into the window frame. "The electricity's already been replenished."

"Fantastic," he said. "We're going to need all we can."

"Up there!" shouted Ame. 0 snapped out of his conversation with Pi and looked down. Ame was pointing directly at him.

"Well, no point in standing on ceremony," he said and jumped straight down. This time the landing didn't hurt, but it did cause him to start breathing heavily. It must be the electricity, he thought. No one had dared to move since he dropped, so 0 stood up and surveyed his surroundings.

"Finally showed up, huh?" said Serena in an exasperated tone.

0 shrugged. "Always did like a dramatic entrance," he said. "Move two centimeters to the side." Serena and 415 jerked themselves just enough to obey him and, in a flash, 0 emerged right in front of Top and drove him into the wall. Top, in his surprise, released the two and they regrouped away from Top.

"0, we need to talk," said Serena. "With what's been going on—"

"There's no time right now," said 0. "You two need to get out of here."

"No," said Serena. "You listen. You abandoned everyone. You need to come back and explain what's—"

"Silver!" he shouted. He was beginning to feel annoyed. "I swear to you and everyone it wasn't my intention to abandon everyone. My morpher's communicator malfunctioned and I lost my com-link when I was trapped. I was in no position to contact you until you managed to signal me. I promise you and May I'll be back, but I need to take care of something first. Now transport out of here! That's a direct order!"

Serena grumbled. "Fine. But you'd better get back soon. Your wife misses you and so does your team. And we're going to want a real explanation!"

"Understood, Silver. 415, signal May for the transport. Tell her I'm sorry, but I can't be near you all right now. I'll be back once I fix something."

415 nodded. "Ranger Downs, transport both me and Ranger Silver. Ranger Gold is remaining." A moment passed. "He appears stable, but requires additional time. We will fill you in once we return." The two of them flashed, then vanished.

0 turned towards Ame. "Now then, where were we?"

Ame faced him with a sneer on her face. "I believe we were at the part where you are torn limb from limb, Ranger Gold," she said. "I am unaccustomed to being so inconvenienced. Top, handle him."

Top transformed instantly, he didn't seem to have to stand for the formalities of wrapping his chains, then tore after 0. He waited for it to attack, let it hit him, allowed it to drive him to the ground and pummel him.

It only made him angrier.

Top allowed him a brief reprise, just enough for 0 to stagger to his feet. The lightning was getting more and more erratic. "Come on," he grunted. He was hurting everywhere, but Top's attacks hadn't gotten through. It was the continual discharge of lightning that was doing it. It ripped apart the pieces of him underneath the armor he could still feel, disintegrated them, then reformed them only to be shredded again. "Come on, you lumbering idiot. Come on!"

Top obliged and sent him flying into the nearby wall. 0 growled and extracted himself from the ranger-shaped hole in the wall before running back to Top. He was starting to feel lighter.

"0, we're getting close!" shouted Pi from his wrist. 0 howled savagely and launched himself onto Top.

0 couldn't really remember the next few minutes very well. It was a blur of punches and grappling. One moment he and Top had their arms locked, straining to bring the other to their knees, and the next he delivered a punch that sent Top toppling to the ground. He then delivered a bone-shattering elbow-smash to Top's neck that temporarily slowed down the beast.

"That's what I'm talking about," he growled. "This power…it's awfully useful." He turned to Ame and Dia. "Who wants to be next?"

"I will I will!" shouted Dia and she rammed him hard in the stomach. "That's what you get for hurting my Daddy! Nobody hurts my Daddy!"

0 growled. "Hurt your Daddy? Like you hurt my Sarah? Like you hurt my May?" He grabbed the little girl by the neck and started squeezing. He saw Top try to get up, but he used his overwhelming power to hold the beast down under his boot. "I'm so sorry, Dia. I didn't mean to, just like I'm sure you didn't mean to hurt my family."

She wrapped her arms around his hand, trying to break free. There was entirely too much power in his grip. "It's—It's just business," she croaked. "Business!"

0 howled with laugher. "Oh, if I had a buck for every time I heard that one." Without his knowledge, he began shocking her and Top with a surge of electricity.

Ame realized what was happening. "Dia, Top, get out of there this instant," she shouted. "He is going to—"

It was too late. The electricity kept building and building, until eventually there was nothing but a wide burst of golden light.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

When the light died down, 0 was standing in the moonlight.

The roof was gone, essentially everything around him was gone. His own armor was gone, all he could see was a brilliant golden light where his body should have been. Eventually, the armor started reforming. It all looked the same, but it felt incredibly different. When the light died out completely, and it was only 0 standing in the rubble, he heard a voice in his head.

"0?" It was Pi.

0 tapped his head. "Yeah, buddy?" he asked.

"E-Everything's stable. Our systems are back to normal levels. No signs of the overcharge like before. We-We can go back."

"That's good. Hey, how can I hear you in my head?"

"I don't know. That's a good question."

0 shrugged. "We'll figure that out later," he said. "For now, we'd better make sure the Dark Gems really are toast before we head home."

"Really, Ranger Gold." 0 froze in place. Ame simply materialized in front of him. "The sheer volume of the blast, while admirable, is no more effective against me than the nip of a baby. True, it may take Dia a moment to recover, but my other friend was shielded from the blast in much the same way you were."

"What?" he asked.

She sighed. "Look around you, Ranger Gold. The explosion only detonated your surrounding area. Most of the area has been damaged, but the explosion only moved upwards from your position." Then, she offered him the slightest of smirks. "Where was Top when the blast went off?"

0 was about to respond, but an arm reached up from the rubble and grabbed his leg. 0 felt himself jerked upside down as Top emerged and stared at his upside-down body. The Gold Ranger swung with his fists, but Top elongated his arms to keep 0 at bay.

"Pi! Pi, I need something here!" he shouted. He tried to reach out for the Synchronization Drive, but there was no response.

"We're tapped out, 0!" it replied. "The explosion didn't just eat up the excess energy, it ate up the reserves too! We can't use anything without an auxiliary Pokemon."

"Just great," he muttered and reached for his belt. Before he could get anywhere, Top twisted his other arm and it slunk around his body, binding him in place and without the means to reach the Poke Balls. "Just great."

"Do you see, Ranger Gold?" asked Ame as she stepped forward. "There is no hope. No chance of success. Just lucky breaks you scraped together until we eventually outran you." She turned to Top. "Kill him. Kill him and make sure he does not return. Then we finish the contract."

Top tightened his muscles. 0 was aware of his body slowly being crushed. He screamed, but that didn't stop anything.

"Now, Ranger Gold, you meet your maker," said Ame. "Do send my regards."

It was at that precise moment that Ame stopped standing directly next to Top, and began a very speedy journey in the direction of a nearby wall. 0 barely even had time to register what was happening when he felt Top's grip loosen on him, then abandon him altogether. 0 fell to the ground and lost consciousness for an instant.

An instant later, he was rushed back to life by the sound of a roar. A deafening, violent, angry roar, the likes of which he'd only ever heard from one beast in the world. One furious monster, who for so long had never listened to him, to the point where he'd himself been on the receiving end of that roar. A monster that had come around and become one of his closest allies, one of his closest friends, one of his strongest Pokemon.

Top was literally lifted off his feet, and then hurled in the same direction as Ame. He crashed into her and buried her under some more rubble. It was only then that 0 got a good look at his rescuer in the moonlight.

It was gigantic, ten feet tall, fifteen counting the tail. There was a fire coming from the tip of that tail that burned brightly in the night. Its orange scales glistened, its muscles bulged. Its fangs gnashed at the air, flames spitting out from both ends of its mouth. It looked down at him with its fierce, terrible blue eyes staring into 0's very soul.

"Z," he breathed. "You…You came for me. You came to save me."

The Charizard grinned. It lifted its head and filled the night air with its voice once more.

In between all of this, Ame and Top had managed to get themselves untangled. Dia was still nowhere to be found, but Ame had a look on her face that suggested she was extremely angry about something.

"That Pokemon makes no difference," she said. "You will both die, here and now. My contract ends today."

"I don't think so," said 0, then turned to Z. "I take it you saw us on the news, right?" It roared and nodded its head. "You've seen what my system does. I'm betting you have something for me."

It nodded, and produced a Poke Ball it had been holding onto. 0 took it.

"Return," he said, and clicked the button. Z stared at the Dark Gems and roared at them as it disappeared in a flash of light. Before they could do anything, 0 set the new Poke Ball into his morpher. "Scan it."

"_Auxiliary Pokemon System activated- Chariard Form registered_." There it was again, the mysterious AI voice. 0 watched in fascination as the regular Poke Ball holding Z suddenly turned deep orange.

His mind shifted, turning away from the calm, if irritated, leader of his team and into a sheer wave of confidence. There was no chance he could lose, absolutely no chance at all. The mere suggestion of it was laughable. He didn't even bother watching as the armor shifted, morphed into position for the new form. There was no point. He was already going to win.

He pointed a finger at Ame and Top. "You," he said, "are going to regret you ever learned I existed."

"_Dragon Burners- installed_," said the voice.

"Z," said 0, "you ready to rock it?"

A rough, old voice answered him with a spattering laugh. "Born ready, boss."

"Then let's show them how we do things back home."

0 crouched, tensed his muscles, and charged with a roar.


	34. Morph 34

**Morph Thirty-Four: Love's Remorse: The Sins I Bear**

Chariard Form was, for lack of a better word, utterly cool.

Words alone could not do it justice, the sheer spectacle of it needed to be seen to be truly experienced. The bottom half of 0's visor had changed, just like in his other two forms, only this time it was dark orange instead of blue or black, but that was easily the least significant thing about it.

The most significant thing about it, thought 0, was the fact that Chariard Form came with awesome new wings.

Huge, huge wings stretched from his back, each one ten feet long. 0 couldn't believe them when he saw them. He was sure they wouldn't have been able to get him in the air. But, then again, Z's wings had always seemed too small for it and the giant Charizard had always managed to haul itself into the air and best supersonic speeds without so much as a shrug. They were bright orange and latched to his back through the vein-like structures that appeared every time he used the Auxiliary Pokemon System.

Oh, and he had a tail. Was it mentioned that he had one? A giant, unfolding tail to stabilize his movements and keep him balanced. A tail with a giant ball of fire at the end of it. That should have been mentioned, because he did indeed have such a tail and loved every moment of it.

"Get some!" he shouted as he tore through the gymnasium in his effortless quest to reach Top. Top responded by attempting to smash four arms directly through 0's body. 0 retorted in kind by folding his new wings over his body and turning himself into a battering ram. Top suddenly found himself entirely unable to dislodge Ranger Gold, mostly because in next to no time 0 curled his tail around one of Top's legs and forced him to the ground.

"I guess you could say you…toppled over, Top!" said 0 with a gleeful vengeance. Top, as per usual, said nothing back, but did manage to get in a solid punch that got 0 off of him and afforded the Dark Topaz Ranger enough time to recover his footing.

"Enough with the taunting, boss" Z whispered in his mind. "We are here to win, not prance about like cowards."

"You're right," said 0, and he stepped up his game. Two steps forward, one side-step passed Top's grasp, and he jammed his fist into the general vicinity of Top's kidney. There was no real way to tell if the attack was effective, but Top halted his assault long enough for 0 to use his now-superior strength to get behind Top and grab the Dark Gem's neck in a chokehold.

"He will attack from the left," said Z. "Dodge."

0 obeyed and Top's first left arm whizzed around right where his head would have been. Top was forced to the ground.

"Enough, Top!" shouted Ame. "Finish him!"

"Yeah, finish him, Daddy!" shouted Dia. "I want my next meal!"

Top seemed to think it over, before he simply regained his footing, hauling 0 up in the process. It was as though the Dark Topaz Ranger wasn't even aware of the fact that a human being was holding onto his neck for dear life. His arm slunk around and grabbed 0 by the tail.

"This doesn't seem promising," 0 managed to get out, before he felt his grip on Top's neck loosen, then come apart altogether as Top began swinging him around like a sack of bricks.

"Tuck into a ball," said Z. "The wings will protect you from the impact."

0 did as he was told, but it was much more complicated than just one impact. 0 lost track of the amount of times Top smashed him into the rubble on the ground, or how many times he was battered against the walls. All he had a clear memory of was being tossed out of the gymnasium and clear across the street, landing on the very rooftop he had almost died on just a short time ago.

"I've got some serious déjà vu," he muttered as he climbed back onto his feet.

"He's behind you," said Z. "Forward."

0 ran forward as best he could. Top dropped down like a bomb and landed right where 0 had been standing. 0 turned around.

"Hey," he shouted suddenly. "Can you talk?"

"What are you doing?" asked Z. "You're opening your defenses!"

"I know, give me a second." 0 stepped forward. Top made no move to oppose him, and waited until 0 was standing a few feet away from him. "A couple of days ago, when you crashed the field day, you talked to me." Top made no motion he understood. "You looked directly at me, creeped me out, made me realize who you were. Why did you do that? Why would you care whether the civilians at my event lived or died? You gave me plenty of time to get the place cleared so there would be as few casualties as possible. Why would a Dark Gem Ranger care if a few people got away from the fighting?"

Top still didn't do anything. It was both infuriating and insulting. 0 stomped one boot and snorted. "Were you afraid of what Dia would do to those people? Why would you care? I saw the body in Brock's hotel. I know it's you and Dia doing it. Why would you care if a few kids and their parents got gobbled up by your monster daughter? It's not like kids matter to people like you!"

Top didn't even telegraph the attack that ensued. 0 barely got his wings wrapped around him in time to avoid Top's punch, then retreated to a safer distance.

"Tell you what, Top," 0 shouted. "Say I beat you, right here and now. Will you tell me why? Will you tell me how you can sit back and watch that little she-demon murder innocent people while you sit around and coddle her?" 0 lifted his arms and wings. "You man enough to make that bet? A simple nod will suffice!"

It was a tiny, tiny gesture, 0 almost didn't recognize it for what it was. The Dark Topaz Ranger tilted his head forward slightly to offer the barest of nods, and then returned to his attack stance.

"Alright," said 0. "Let's dance, partner."

Top charged forward, bearing all four of his arms to grab onto anything, anything at all, so long as it belonged to 0 and could be ripped apart. 0 responded by lowering his wings over the top of his head and shielded himself from the blows, using the opening to deliver a series of vicious punches directly to Top's Dark Gem. The monster back away and grabbed his chest for a moment, then ran back for another round.

"Z, I need to know our move options," said 0.

"The system indicates we are loaded with Inferno and Dragon Claw. Which would be more effective right now?"

"What do you suggest?"

He heard Z chuckle. "If we hit him with the Inferno, it may soften up that big rock in his chest. He seemed to dislike that earlier."

"Agreed. I'll get some breathing space. You fire it up."

"Get ready, boss," it warned.

0 jumped out of the way and opened his wings. He was…he was flying! He flew straight up, leaving Top stranded helpless on the rooftop. "Z, I think we've got plenty of space between us. Inferno!"

Immediately, 0 felt pain. His armor should have protected him from it, but he was still able to keep himself focused. The fire started charging in the palms of his hands, causing the armor around his gauntlets to be set ablaze. Orange balls of fire leapt out and began swirling together, forming a gigantic typhoon of flames until, at last, it was ready to be unleashed.

0 almost couldn't stand the heat. He briefly wondered how Top would fare. "Synchronization Drive- Inferno!" he roared, and the fire burst forth in a massive, swirling column of heat and flames towards the Dark Topaz Ranger.

Top only had to look at the tower of fire once to realize what he was, and 0's distance from him allowed Top to smoothly dodge the attack. Because 0 could not move the blast or affect its blasting radius in any way, he was forced to watch the searing heat incinerate the rooftop, turning the concrete and steel into molten lava.

Top casually glanced back up at 0. Two of his arms retracted and, in their stead, two billowing wings emerged from his shoulders.

"Way to be unoriginal," 0 snorted. He started moving away at the same time Top's wings began beating up and down, up and down, until finally he lifted off and began slowly making his way towards 0. "I need another plan."

"We're faster than he is," said Z. "Outrun him, then grab him. Even he must dislike falls from this height."

"Fair point," he said. He straightened out his wings and tucked into a dive. He swooped down and battered Top in the chest, altering the Dark Gem's trajectory and sending him into the nearest building. Top recovered briskly and began tailing in him midair.

"Great, now he thinks he can catch us." 0 doubled back and slammed into him again. Nothing changed, it was as though he was striking a particularly mobile brick wall. It was the same as always, nothing he did seemed to affect the Dark Topaz Ranger. "How do you defeat an impenetrable force?" he asked aloud.

Z answered. "You respond with an equally impenetrable force. If you and he are of equal strength, there must be a way around it. There is always a factor which decides who breaks the tie. You need to decide whether you are that man or if you intend to scurry off in defeat."

0 nodded. "I know. I just wish there was a way to be sure."

"In situations like this, there never is," said Z. "That was what gave me the strength to battle Water-types and prevail. It was not just my strength, but my belief in you. It allowed me to conquer water, when all evidence pointed to the contrary. It was what allowed me to grow strong and powerful, into one of the mightiest of my kind. I believed in you." It paused, and snorted into his mind. "Now I ask you: believe in me. Believe in our power, our might, and together not a single thing can stand in our way! It never did when we were young, and it never shall as long as we stand together and refuse to be defeated by the likes of this lackey and his cheap tricks! Believe in yourself! Believe in me! Believe in the bond that we share, the bond which saved me from the rain when I was but a child and brought me here to fight for yourself and your family!"

It took a deep breath. "Believe!" it shouted. "Believe in victory and nothing shall dare oppose you!"

0 stopped in midair. He allowed Top to catch up, to grab him, to try to bring him down. He just opened his mind to the Charizard's voice, and the answer appeared.

As he felt Top's arms close around him, he made certain that Top had not grabbed hold of his wings or tail. He allowed Top to point downwards, aiming to destroy him in a high-speed impact on the streets below. He made certain the Synchronization Drive was charging again.

"Now, boss?" asked Z, anxious.

0 shook his head. He could see the street approaching. "Not yet," he said. "Believe in me."

Z snorted. "Amusing."

0 opened his wings. The metallic constructs burst forth, titanic shapes that gradually ensnared Top in their embrace. Top scarcely realized what was happening, and by the time he did it was too late. He was already covered by 0's grasp. It was only then that Top truly realized what 0's plan was. It wasn't until it was too late to stop anything that Top noticed 0's palms were resting on top of his Dark Topaz.

"Z!" screamed 0. "Synchronization Drive- Inferno!"

The first time 0 had tried the move was nothing compared to this burst. The heat surrounded him, enveloped him, transformed him into a raging inferno of fire. The flames burst out from his fingertips and smashed directly into the Dark Topaz. If Top could have screamed, there was no doubt in 0's mind that he would have in that instant. The flames tore through both of them, though only 0 had the presence of mind to do anything. Top's grip loosened, and 0 positioned himself so he was on top of Top when they landed in the streets, the impact squarely targeting and damaging the Dark Topaz inside his chest.

To be fair, 0 himself was not uninjured by falling into the streets. It took a moment or two for him to get moving. He found one finger, then another, then worked his way up until he could pull himself from the huge crater Top's body had created in the street. Car alarms from both sides of the street were screaming in his head as he pulled his body from the wreckage. It was damaged, but not to an extent that it could not repair itself.

Still, 0 did not wait for victory to be declared. He went right back into the crater and wrenched out the Dark Topaz Ranger. The monster was unresponsive and allowed himself to be pulled free. 0 flung him onto the lip of the crater, exposing a Dark Topaz that was emitting an unusual amount of steam.

"He is injured," said Z. "Finish him honorably."

0 nodded and extended the fingers of his right hand. "Synchronization Drive- Dragon Claw!" he snarled. His hand erupted with a fierce blue light that surrounded the fingers in claw-like auras. 0 pinpointed the Dark Topaz and struck.

Briefly, before the claws sank in, 0 swore he saw Top raise his hands in a sign of protest.

But it was too late. The Dragon Claw buried itself in Top's chest, sending deep, rippling cracks through the Dark Topaz. 0 heard something akin to a sonic boom when he stabbed through the gem, but recalled from his previous experience with Sappho to stop where he stood and hold his arm in place.

So, towering over the broken, battered form of the Dark Topaz Ranger, 0 dug his arm deeper and hissed, "Talk. I deserve to know."

There was a sudden jerk, before the visor and helmet of the evil ranger simply melted away, and the face of a man emerged. In reflection, 0 couldn't believe how much he did look like Brock. True, he didn't have Brock's fox-like eyes or the grin that normally adorned Brock's face, but the skin tone and the spikes of hair on his head were very similar. Instead, Top had bright eyes that sparkled like his namesake stone, and those eyes looked upon 0 with the greatest ease 0 had ever seen in a man.

"So," he said, in a voice that croaked out of his lips like he'd forgotten how to use it, "my contract is done."

0 was not swayed by the man finally deciding to speak. "Talk," he said. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

The man coughed. "What does that matter, little boy?" he asked. "Will the knowledge ease your conscience? Give you certainty that you did the right thing? You think answers are for such a purpose?"

"You talk really fancy for a mute," said 0.

The man rolled his eyes. "Do I? Did it cross your mind that I simply had nothing I would like to say? It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool in these games. You, on the other hand, always open your mouth and remove all doubt in the process. What is it you want me to say? That I am sorry? That I regret my actions? Such a confession will not bring you comfort when you sit at night, alone and unable to sleep. I am dying, boy, so tell me what you want before I remove your arm myself and finish my existence."

0 growled. "I want to know why you murdered those girls and hurt my friend. I want to know if you even considered their families, their loved ones, that you sacrificed to further your own agenda!" He twisted his arm, and Top groaned. "I want to know what could drive a man like you into being the monster you've been."

Top offered him a smile. "But I did it for a reason that would frighten you, Ranger Gold. I did it for love."

"Love?"

"The greatest emotion there is. What if I were to tell you that I was once a man, a doctor, whose only crime was that he had a daughter. A man whose wife passed away, leaving a little girl to be loved and cared for. And then, Ranger Gold, what if I told you that at the cusp of adulthood, that girl was stricken with an illness. A cancer for which there was no cure known to man or Pokemon. A cancer that robbed her from him at the age of seventeen." Top narrowed his eyes and glared at 0. "Imagine you were that man. What would you have done, were an offer presented to bring your daughter back to life? What sort of man, what sort of father, would refuse a chance to be reunited with their daughter? What sort of monster would leave their daughter rotting away in a hospital bed, all the while knowing a chance to see her, to hold her, to love her, existed just beyond the door. What would you have done?"

Before 0 could answer, Top continued. "There are choices we make, Ranger Gold. Choices we must live with, no matter how terrible. Choices like the loss of your soul. Choices like the return of a daughter who wants nothing more than to be alive again. Choices like helping that daughter feast so she may have the life she had once more. Choices that bind you to the plots of mad men. Choices you make for love. Not because they are right, not because you won't regret them, but choices you have to make, because either way you will never be able to live with yourself if you walk away from them."

He glared at 0 and lifted his head. "Do I regret my choices? You may as well as me if I regret my daughter. I regret what we became. I regret who she is. I regret who I am. But when she looks at me and begs to be fed, who am I to refuse? Who can refuse their own flesh, born then ripped from their bosom, if they return with loving arms? Could you be stronger than I, Ranger Gold, and let go of the child who called you 'Daddy'? The girl whom you changed diapers for, whom you promised to protect no matter what?" His voice raised, almost to a frothing pitch. "Could you be stronger than a man whose only crime was that he wanted to hold his daughter in his arms again?"

He started shouting, but was silenced abruptly. Not by 0, he had not removed his arm to shatter the gem, but from Dia, who had snuck up nearby and cradled her father's head.

"Daddy," she whispered.

He was breathing in short, raspy breaths. "I-I'm sorry, Dia. I won't be able to protect you anymore."

"Daddy," she whispered. "I'm hungry."

His eyes widened. "I'm dying," he panted. "Please, please hold me before I fade away."

Dia shook her head. "No need, Daddy." 0 suddenly recognized that her voice had changed. It was no longer the giddy, homicidal girl he knew. She sounded like a predator, who had finally found the perfect prey to round off an evening of supper. "You'll be with me. You'll always be with me. Always protecting. Always watching. Always." She wrapped her chains around herself and quickly transformed. 0 watched shadowy chains begin to extend from her arms and around Top's body.

"Baby girl," he gasped. "You can't I-I love you. I did all this for you. I did everything so we could be together again."

"And we will," she said. "Together forever."

Top's eyes hardened, 0 thought he saw a tear in the monster's eye, before he looked back to the Gold Ranger. "Stop her," he said. His voice was so faint, it was almost a whimper. "Don't make my mistakes. Don't cling to your past, fight for your futu—"

If there was more, 0 did not hear it. The Dark Topaz Ranger's body simply disappeared. There was no dust, no anything that normally accompanied a Dark Gem's disintegration. One moment he was there, the next 0 found his hand striking through nothing but air. The man was gone, and now all that remained was Dia.

Dia stared at 0 and giggled. "Silly Daddy," she said. "Always telling stories about me as a baby. It's so embarrassing!" She clicked her claws together. "I'm so close, you know. I'm so close to being alive again." Then she patted her belly. "But I'm sooooooooo stuffed! There's no way I could eat another bite tonight!"

Not good, thought 0 to himself. _Not good at all_.

"Tell you what," she said. "I'll come back tomorrow night and eat everyone then! Of course, I really just want Sarah. I get Sarah, I'll probably get all full and definitely get my life back. You know I could smell it off her first time I met. So full of life." She sniffed 0 and groaned in disgust. "You, on the other hand? No life. None. So nasty. Like eating spinach. I hate spinach, but Daddy always made me eat it."

"You think for one second I'm letting you touch my daughter, then Sappho wasn't the only Dark Gem who was insane," said 0. "I'll rip you apart just like I did him."

She bent over and delicately pointed at her cheek. "Why?" she asked sweetly. "You wouldn't hurt little old me, would you? I'm a perfect angel. I just want to be a regular human is all. Why can't you let me just do what I want? I just wanna eat Sarah! I don't understand why this is so complicated!" She began stamping her feet, exactly like a spoiled brat.

"You step in my home," said 0, "I'll send you to your own personal family reunion downstairs."

"Maybe." She blew a raspberry at 0. "Maybe not! I'll see you grownups tomorrow! You'd better be ready, I hate when people hold back!" She then started somersaulting down the street, albeit very badly. Eventually, however, she simply disappeared around a corner 0 and Z were left standing in the crater that had just held the Dark Topaz Ranger.

"I'm going to switch back to Pi," said 0. After the Charizard confirmed, 0 removed the new dark-orange ball from his morpher and attached it to his belt. He felt his mind loosen up immediately then Pi returned to his mind.

"Well, that was interesting," said Pi. "Have some fun, I take it?"

"Yeah, bagged the big guy," he said. "Not sure what happened though, the guy got eaten by the little girl."

"That's really weird," said Pi.

"Super weird," agreed 0, "which is why we need to get home. Dia ate Top, and now I'm guessing she's cranked up on topaz juice. We need to get back there to defend the group."

"Good. My scans continue to indicate normal functions," said Pi. "We won't be detonating again. Return home to Ranger Downs."

0 checked the night's sky. "Well, I'm willing to bet we can't do a teleportation jump, so I guess you'd better hit up Agility."

"Already fired up, 0."

"Much obliged, Pi."

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The road home seemed much longer than usual.

0 cut off the Synchronization Drive about half a mile away from Ranger Downs, wanting a quiet walk to himself before he met with everyone again. He looked up at the moon and sensed a light breeze fluttering around his armor, then began the slow march home.

"Do you think they'll be mad at me?" he asked Pi.

"I don't know why. You couldn't really explain the situation without giving away the plan," said the Pikachu. "May and the others are reasonable people. I'm sure they'll understand that you didn't want to detonate around them."

"I sure hope they see it that way," 0 said. He could see the house in the distance. There was no doubt in his mind they could already see him. The long-range sensors for Ranger Downs were incredibly sensitive, only the most covert of individuals could hope to bypass them, and extended in a two mile radius around the house. He was walking unarmed and uninterested in being covert. He wanted to be seen.

When he reached the front porch, he was still the only one there. Nobody had come outside to greet him, nothing. "Hmmm…what's the protocol for this, Pi?" he asked.

"Well, you could try knocking," it suggested.

"Oh yeah. Not sure why that went over my head." He raised his hand and rapped sharply on the door. He then backed away. A moment later, it creaked open and 0 found himself looking into the eyes of his wife.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. "H-Hey," said May.

He waved. "Hi," he said. "I—I think I have a lot of explaining to do, huh?"

She nodded. "We just saw the explosion. They had an emergency bulletin. Sirens, everything. What happened over there?"

"It's a really long story," he said. "Mind if I come in? I need to fill everyone in about what's happened."

May held up a hand. "Wait," she said. "Is it safe? I mean, are you safe?"

"What do you mean?"

She looked at him. "You know what I mean. I just saw you blow up an entire building by yourself, and now here you are standing in front of the door like your usual self. Is it going to happen again? Is that why you left again?"

He sighed. "May, I didn't have a choice. I promise you I'm going to tell you everything and that I'm not going to explode. Please let me inside before the neighbors see me—" He paused and looked himself over "—like this."

May consented and opened the door wide enough for him to come inside. 0 stepped in and shut the door behind him. There was another moment of silence, before he asked awkwardly, "Where should I start?"

May folded her arms. "At the beginning. Why did you leave and why didn't you try to get in touch with us?"

0 crossed his arms. "I left because there was a problem. When I got stuck in morph the energy that I normally produce to run the armor went into overdrive. I got angry and frustrated, and the suit picked up on that and increased the energy output even more. Pi suggested we get out before I blew everyone up. Later, when we had time to think about it, we realized it would be a better idea to detonate near the Dark Gems, so we started looking for them. We couldn't come back because we thought it would trigger the detonation."

"Okay, why would we trigger the detonation?" she asked.

0 shrugged. "I felt ashamed. I couldn't protect Sarah and I got stuck. I was angry at myself, I hated myself. I was just trying to stay away from those feelings. Pi and I tried to contact you."

"You did?"

He nodded. "Yeah." He sat down in a nearby chair and sank his head. "We went to Brock's hotel room. We figured we could both check on him and use an internet connection to contact you. But—" He stopped, as the body of the girl flashed through his head "—there was this girl there. She looked like the girl from the Conner case. We found her Pokemon." He retrieved the two Poke Balls from his belt. "After we talked to these guys, we just sort of lost track of everything. It's just—I had never had that kind of experience. I'd never met a Pokemon whose trainer had died. Pi and I, we wanted to help them." He looked up. "I'm sorry, May. My mind still isn't back a hundred percent. Still working out the kinks."

May said nothing for a while and absorbed the information. Finally, she said, "When you exploded, did you know you'd walk away from it or did you think you were going to die?"

"Huh? No, we knew we'd survive. It was a question of getting rid of the extra energy. Now that it's gone, I won't be exploding again. May," he said, and stood up, "did you think I was trying to kill myself because I got trapped? Is that what this is?"

May gave a slight nod of her head. "I don't know what you're going through, 0. I just didn't know. You left us. After you promised us you wouldn't. I just—I wish I had known why you left. You know, you aren't alone anymore. You don't need to shoulder these things yourself." She held out her arms. "Could you please hug me? I think I'm entitled to a hug."

0 approached her gingerly. "Are you still mad at me? I can't really tell."

She let him hug her, and breathed deeply. "I'll get over it," she said. "I'm not mad now, but I'm not happy either. You should have explained what was happening to me. I know you couldn't have, and I'm not asking you to understand what's going on in my head right now, but right now I'm just glad you're home safe." She looked up at him. "If it makes you feel better, you still feel the same when I hug you."

0 chuckled. "It does improve my mood," he said. "How's about we go downstairs? I—Is Brock alright?"

May shook her head. "He's not. He really isn't. He…maybe you should come see for yourself. The Dark Gems, they did things to him. 415 says he'll be a cripple for life."

0 groaned. "Geez, Brock…" He rubbed his visor. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't—"

May shushed him. "This isn't your fault. You didn't mean for Brock to be here. You didn't mean for anyone to kidnap him. We're all going to take care of him now. So don't worry. We're a team, right?"

0 remembered the strange vision of the Golden Ranger, and nodded. "The best team," he said, and followed her downstairs.

Inside Ranger Downs, Brock was indeed not doing well. He was awake and on quite a bit of painkillers, judging from the IV drip bag latched to his bed. His limbs were withered pieces of flesh that dangled uselessly off the bed. His eyes were constantly moving, but they weren't looking at anything.

"Who's there?" he asked the room. "May? May, are you back?"

"Yes, I'm here Brock," she said. "I had to go let 0 in. You remember me telling you about 0, right?"

May crossed over and placed her hand on Brock's shoulder. "Yeah," he said. "The guy, Ranger Gold. Is he here?"

"I'm here, Brock," said 0. "I'm sorry you got mixed up in this."

"Eh, you know, it's all good. I'm sure I'd be furious, but it's really hard to be mad when you're on an IV drip filled with morphine." He grinned. "Do you know how nice morphine is? Because it's fantastic. I can't begin to describe how happy it makes me."

"How's he been?"

May shrugged. "Stable. We managed to get everything working again. But he's stuck on the bed until 415 can figure out what to do with him."

"The other lady said I'm gonna be some kind of cyborg," said Brock. "It sounds pretty cool. Won't have to work out again."

"Actually, I think the physical therapy's going to be really rough," said May. "You need rest, buddy. Why don't you take another nap?"

"But I just took a nap," said Brock. "I kinda want to be up. I think I need to be up. Not sure why, though." He shifted his head so he was looking in the direction he heard 0's voice coming from. "So you're May's new husband? Do I just call you Ranger Gold, or what?"

"You don't recognize my voice?" he asked.

Brock shook his head. "Might be some ear damage too, but I'm afraid I can't place it. Have we met?"

0 chuckled. "Well, I guess you deserve to know," he said. Then, to Pi, he conveyed instructions to have the suit's voice control altered to his regular voice. He took a deep breath.

"Brock," he said, in a voice free from the armor's synthesizer or his years of inflecting an Orre accent. "You're telling me you can't recognize the voice of a little kid you used to know that came all the way from Pallet Town?"

Brock's eyes widened. "You—You're—"

0 chuckled. "Used to be, yeah. Now I'm just 0, and that's the way it stays."

"Okay, fair enough. May here filled me in on what was happening, but I'll admit that I'm kinda hazy on the details."

"I wouldn't mind hearing those details myself," said Serena from the stairs. Behind her, Max and 415 nodded in agreement. "Hey, big guy. Finish your vision quest or something?"

"Or something," said 0. "My body's as stable as it's going to be, so it's safe for me to be back. I'll need 415 to run diagnostics on me, but so far so good."

415 nodded. "That can be arranged, but before you do so we should debrief you. The explosion on the news did not have sufficient data."

0 nodded. "As best as I can then, I managed to take down one of them. We can scratch the Dark Topaz Ranger off our list. I used the Auxiliary Pokemon System with Z and we managed to—"

"Z?" asked May. "It flew all the way over here?"

0 nodded and produced Z's orange Poke Ball. "Yep. I flew, May. It was amazing. But we managed to get the best of him and broke his Dark Gem. Then Dia ate him."

"She ate him?" asked Max. "But why? Isn't he her father?"

"He was," said 0. "He spoke to me."

"He could talk?" asked Serena.

"Yeah." 0 lowered his head. "Very honorable in the end. He told me why he became a Dark Gem Ranger. He did it because they promised to bring his daughter back to life. Instead he got a sadistic child who ate him. Now she's got all his power plus her own, and she's coming after Sarah."

"Sarah? Why?" asked May.

"Dia's dead. Or, at least, she's in some kind of in-between state where she needs life energy from others to come back to life. That's what she did to those girls, to Brock, and to her own father. She said she's full now, so it gives us time to prepare for her counterattack, but she says once she eats Sarah she'll be fully charged. She'll come back to life, and there's no telling what that means."

"Interesting," said 415. "It shows a pattern, does it not?"

"A pattern?" asked 0.

"Yes. All of the Dark Gems have had a pattern that suggests the organization targets certain types of individuals, those who have lost pieces of their souls. For example, the Dark Sapphire Ranger was characterized with a lack of sanity. That is a fact we cannot deny. The Dark Topaz Ranger revealed he lost his daughter, and the Dark Diamond Ranger lost her life." She turned to Max. "And you, you lost your Pokemon. When you lost it, did you feel as though a part of your soul was lost in the process?"

Max blinked. "I…I just remember there being a lot of pain and hate. I can't remember that first time I transformed, but I remember the pain." He nodded. "It could have been a piece of my soul."

"Then that explains the actions of both Dia and Top. Dia fed in other to regain her life and, as a result, her piece of soul. Top was compelled to help, as her regaining her life would return his daughter and, again, his soul. This may explain Ame's fervor for following her contract. If she does not, she will not regain her soul."

"It doesn't matter why they're doing these things," said Serena. "They need to be stopped."

"It does matter," said 415. "Our understanding of our enemy's plans are limited at best. We only understand their interest in May Birch and Serena Brine. We do not, however, understand the motivations of the underlings they dispatch to enact this plan. This information grants us a higher level of understanding of our enemy."

"Regardless," said 0, "the fact remains we need to get ready. Dia's coming, and I'm willing to bet she's not going to be as fun-loving as she was around her Dad. Max, 415, I want you outside, ready for an initial wave. Silver, you're support with me in case they breach the outer walls. May, you'll get Sarah and hide here with Brock. Keep him monitored, but you're Watchtower for this little show. Everyone understand?"

"Yes, sir!" his army shouted. Immediately afterwards, they noticed that someone was snoring. They turned as one and noticed that Brock had succumbed to the morphine-induced rest.

"Now, I think I'll be spending some much-deserved time with my wife and daughter," said 0. "Everyone, get ready."

The group dispersed.

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Max wasn't entirely sure why he was being partnered with 415. It wasn't the first time it had happened, yet Max couldn't help but feel a certain reluctance to work with her. But when 0 asked him to do something, he did it, which was why he was sitting outside the house with 415. The two of them were watching the rising sun on a small bench.

"How have you been feeling?" asked 415 abruptly.

"W-What?" he asked.

"Your condition," said 415. "I would rather not go into battle aware that my assigned partner was of a quality too inferior to handle the situation."

"I'm fine, thanks," he muttered. "As fine as a guy can be when one of his best friends has been crippled permanently."

"Actually, my query was in reference to your Dark Emerald."

Max tightened his grip on the gemstone. "Why are you interested in that? Aren't you the grandmaster of hating Dark Gems?"

"My views are unchanged. However, it is my understanding that something was done to you recently by the Dark Diamond Ranger. The reports from the battle suggest she tried to force you to evolve from Chained Form to Sealed Form."

"Uh, yeah. That did happen, but I haven't noticed anything different. She stuck her weird shadow chains in me and tried to trigger it, but I got out of there in time. Other than that, I've been fine."

"You are lying," said 415. "Your posture indicates something is troubling you about my questions. Out with it."

"Why do you care?" asked Max. "There's no point in talking to you about it. You just belittle me and insult my very existence because I don't wear one of your fancy 'safe' morphers."

415 was silent for a moment. "Dark Gem, you are my partner. You are responsible for my safety in the unlikely event of my failure. You are obligated to share with me any reservations you have regarding your current status."

"There's no point in explaining it to you," he repeated. "You aren't going to understand what I'm going through. Nobody here does."

"Are you considering defecting?"

"What? No!" Max stared at her with a confused expression. "How could you think I'd do something like that?"

"It is the nature of this business to question everything," explained 415. "When a parameter cannot be controlled, it is necessary to understand as much as possible about the subject if one is to make an informed decision. Basic logic, Dark Gem. Even you should be aware of such simple philosophies."

"It's just…" Max started, but then he stopped. "It's just that I'm scared of evolving. I'm scared that I won't be me. You know, when I was traveling with 0, he told me this story about his Bulbasaur. It was this powerhouse of a Pokemon, I'd only ever seen it a few times. Anyway, one day Bulbasaur realizes it's going to evolve into an Ivysaur. Everybody's happy for it, except for Bulbasaur. It wants to be itself, not an Ivysaur. And to this day, it's still a Bulbasaur. Never made the change. It missed out on the firepower of being a Venusaur, but it was always itself. I'm feeling the same way, and so is the Dark Emerald."

"You are both worried you will no longer be yourselves?"

"Exactly." Max lifted his chain and let the Dark Emerald glitter in the light from the porch. "We have a good thing right now. It's changed me, but I think I've changed it too. It wants to help me. It's not just an angry hunk of stone like the other Dark Gems. I'm worried that if we get more powerful, its urges will return and I'll be lost. And it's worried of losing its connection with me. It's still fueled by Gallade's soul." Max lowered his head, the pain from that loss still cut through him. "It's still fueled by my friend."

"Would you evolve to save us?" asked 415.

"Huh?"

"I am speculating about the circumstances that you would evolve in. For instance, 0 recently sacrificed himself and became trapped in morph to save his daughter. Would you do something similar? If there was no option, would you evolve to save us?"

"I don't know. You're asking me to choose between hypothetically losing my friends and hypothetically losing myself. It's not something I can answer right away."

415 nodded. "It is a difficult decision."

"Since when are you nice to me, anyway?" ask Max. "I asked before, but you seem to be a bit more concerned than just a person covering for themselves. You sound legitimately concerned about me."

415 scoffed. "My opinion of you has not changed. You are a monster, but at least you are an honorable one. Should you evolve in battle and, should you turn from the honorable path you have so desperately clung to, I will make you this promise. I will kill you myself rather than let you lose yourself to the Dark Gems. I can offer you that comfort, at least."

That almost made Max smile. "That may in fact be the nicest thing you've ever said to me," he muttered. "Now that I think about it, that's a little depressing."

"I suppose so," she agreed. "Then again, your behavior rarely invites compliments."

"That's rich, coming from you," he said.

"What do you mean?"

Max looked her up and down. "This whole thing, this demeanor of yours is meant to keep people away, right? You said so the other night, but you seemed really defensive about it. What I still don't understand is why you keep people at bay. We're as close to family as you're ever going to get, and we're not asking for you to take off the mask or tell us your name. All we really want is to know that those feelings of family aren't one-sided, that you care about us in your own way too."

415 took a deep breath. "They are not feelings, insofar as you can understand them, Dark Gem. My behavior is based on the life I have lived, which dictates solitary survival." She looked at him, and her eyes blinked twice. "Until the Golden Ranger appeared in my life, there was no one. I mean that not in a stereotypical way, but in a realistic one. There are no memories of family or friends in here." At this, she pointed directly at her skull. "There are no memories of my life before PKM. I was taken in as a youngling and raised by the Golden Ranger and Bakaguru Niwa, as the other option would have been to abandon me once more."

"Well, that explains the weird love-thing you've got for the guy," said Max.

"There was no love. There was only closeness. The Golden Ranger was my father in every way but biologically. He trained me to seal myself away. He taught me to behave this way. He is responsible for everything I am, from my personality to the diction of my voice." She turned to Max. "You ask me if I love your family. I do not. You are an assignment to me, even if we have disbanded relations with PKM itself. But there is a sense of unity. That is really all I can do. We are all damaged in our own special way. I suppose unity is the closest that I can come to love."

"Do you think we could ever really be partners?"

"All things are possible. For instance, it is possible that a gigantic asteroid will strike the world, destroying civilization as we know it. And, as the planet begins to tear asunder and scatter into pieces, as the last remnants of the atmosphere fade and die, it is conceivable that I could turn towards you and view you as a partner in the instants preceding both our deaths."

Max smirked. "What that a joke? Did you really just make a joke?"

"Possibly. My humor inflection was not developed as a child." She lifted her hand to her ear, nodded, and said, "Understood. Will engage."

Max sat up straight. "What is it?"

415 pointed down the road. "The Dark Diamond Ranger will be here shortly. We are to act as a first response unit and draw her away from the inhabited homes. After that, we are to engage until such time as 0 can guarantee May and Sarah Birch's safety. He will then enter combat. Serena Brine will act as a measure of security against Rangerling invasion of Ranger Downs."

Max nodded and got to his feet. His chain immediately began slinking over his arms in preparation for his transformation. "You sure we can do this?"

"Again, all things are possible. In theory, anyway."

"That's another joke. This is getting weird." Max growled and pressed the Dark Emerald into his flesh. "_Dark Gem Ignite_!"

Instantly, Max Birch disappeared. In his stead, the Dark Emerald Ranger emerged to howl at the dawning sun. His mind softened as it joined with the Dark Emerald, merging to form the single mentality they both shared. It was angry, very angry at the Dark Diamond Ranger. Inside, it was just as afraid as Max Birch had been of the power it would shortly receive. It knew its time was close, it had known for a while now, but the little girl had accelerated its development far faster than anything it had ever seen. It could happen tonight if…

No, they thought. It would not happen tonight. If it did, and they lost their friends, how could they live with themselves for the eternity it would take to grieve for their mistakes? They shook their head and moved into attack position. It would not happen. It would not.

Next to him, he saw Ranger Black materialize where 415 had been standing moments ago with the Magnet Mace in her hands. "Wait," she said. "Not yet."

Max grumbled, but relaxed his attack stance as they waited. And wait they did. What seemed like a little dot on the horizon took forever to get to their front steps, and when it did Max recoiled almost instantly.

Eating the Dark Topaz Ranger had warped Dia. She slumped towards them, ten feet tall but as if she did not yet know how to control her body. Pieces of her were bloated with muscle, which others seemed like portions of a little girl's body stapled on. She had one powerful left leg supporting her entire frame, the other was a tall skinny pole that dragged alongside her. She supported herself through a combination of her good leg and one of her right arms. One arm was resting on the ground acting as a third leg, while the other was raised for balance. There was a crude, bone-like wing jutting out of her left shoulder, and her entire body looked hunched as she stumbled ever closer.

"Sarah," she hissed, in an unnaturally deep, booming slur. "Sarah, come out and play! I'm sooooooo hungry, Sarah. Don't let me be hungry Sarah." She slowed to a stop in front of the porch and turned her attention to 415 and Max.

"Dark Diamond Ranger," said 415. "Do not attempt to proceed further. You will not be allowed on the premises."

The Dark Diamond Ranger made no sign that she even heard 415's warning. She turned herself on Max. "Eme!" she shouted. "Don't fight with me! Come play with me! Look how much I've learned! Look what a big girl I am! I ate my meals just like Daddy wanted, and now look how big I am!" She lifted her arms and cheered. "I'm bigger than everybody! I'm stronger than everybody! Whee!" She then erupted in a fit of giggles and almost collapsed.

"Stand down," 415 repeated. "We will not warn you again."

Dia nodded. "Okay, I'm just going to eat you first! Appetizers are important!" She drew herself up and started stumbling up the stairs.

"_Lade_!" Max shouted and launched himself at Dia. The monster crumbled and almost seemed to fall apart as the Dark Emerald Ranger tackled her and threw her to the ground. He dove off almost immediately and got out of the range of its hulking fists, and it took Dia a considerable amount of time to regain her balance.

"No, no, no!" she shouted. "I play with you! You don't play with me!"

When she finished rearing back into attack position, she turned her attentions to the smaller 415 and reached out with one of her right arms. It instantly uncoiled, as if it was collapsing in on itself, into a long-range tentacle that tore through the porch and tried to wrap around her. 415, to her credit, did not simply wait to be attacked and leapt away from the tentacle before it could ensnare her.

"Fine," said 415, and turned to Max. "Engage without mercy."

415 ran forward and immediately took out the monster's weak right leg with a well-placed swing of the Magnet Mace. Whatever was beneath her skin shattered and folded into itself. Max took out the arm she was using as support to bring her right back to the ground. The two of them worked together to keep her on the ground and slowly began the process of battering through the Dark Diamond that looked as though it was stapled haphazardly to her chest.

"Watch the tentacle!" 415 shouted as she looped around the monster's body.

Max grunted and twisted left, but it wasn't fast enough to avoid it. He felt the monster wrap herself around him and start tightening her grip. His arms became useless, his legs feebly kicked at the air.

Only then did he realize what it was she was trying to do. She lifted him up and targeted 415. Then she started hammering at the ground with his head.

The Dark Emerald softened his mind, taking over so he wouldn't feel the agony that threatened to rip through his body. His neck was crushed instantly into tiny little pieces inside his armor, but that was nothing compared to Dia's intended target.

415 was hammered into the ground, battered and bruised. She dodged the first few strikes, but there were too many, too many. Eventually Dia struck 415's leg and offset her balance. 415 fell and was then battered by the body of the Dark Emerald Ranger.

Dia giggled. "Now we're playing!" it cried. "Isn't this fun? Aren't you having a great time at my tea party? Whee!"

The Dark Emerald woke Max just enough to let him know what was happening, what Dia was making him do to 415. They conversed. The Dark Emerald could not let Max wake up, not entirely, as the pain would be too terrible. Max understood that, and agreed. What then, could be done?

There was one option, one that neither one of them cared to consider. But Max could not muster the strength to escape, and the Dark Emerald was not powerful enough as it was now. They were still in Chained Form, fighting a monster that had not only started out in Shattered Form, it had taken in another Dark Gem into its being.

The point at which they finally arrived at a consensus came when 415 stopped moving. The Dark Diamond Ranger paused from the onslaught, if only to gleefully look at her handiwork.

"That'll teach you," she murmured. "Teach all of you to think you can stop a growing girl like me. Now for my first appetizer."

"_Laaaaaaaaaaade_!"

An unearthly shriek emerged from within Max, driving a violent emerald aura out of his body. His muscles strained, and all of a sudden he found himself strong enough to move Dia's gigantic fingers. He pushed them away, just enough for him to escape. He jumped down and positioned himself between Dia and 415 crumpled body. He lashed out with one of his chains, almost as an afterthought, threw Dia off-balance, and decked her to the ground.

When Max was certain that Dia would have to take a bit of time to recompose herself, Max moved swiftly to 415's side and lifted her into his arms. She was injured, that much was clear, but the extent of the damage was difficult to determine. Several of her ribs were broken, along with both her right arm and leg. He could hear her heartbeat. It was still there, but there was a distinct dimness to its pitch.

We need to help her, though Max. The Dark Emerald agreed, but there was no way to help her in their current state.

Dia was getting up. His aura was growing more and more potent, crystallizing into a force field that Dia battered against, but found herself unable to break through.

"Let me in!" she shrieked. "I'm famished!"

Max noticed movement in 415. She lifted her head and secured her grip on his shoulder with her one good arm. "Dark Gem," she grunted. "We must fall back. Retreat is our only option. Ranger Gold should be able to handle things from here on out."

But instead of agreeing, Max growled and shook his head. The change was already beginning. The force field was gaining power, enough for even Dia to back away with concern.

"Are you evolving, little Eme?" she cooed. "That's so cute! You think you can stop me with a little pinch of firepower?"

Max roared his response. He felt the chains around his arms tighten and tighten, threatening to snap his arms off. But they didn't. Instead, they simply melted into his skin and scarred the flesh beneath. He screamed in pain, but fought through the urge to pass out. He held 415 close against him, hoping to shield her from the sheer energy he was generating.

Friend, thought Max, is this happening?

It is, it whispered back.

There was so much he wanted to ask it about what was waiting for them on the other side. But it had no answers he could understand, so eventually they said the six words they knew they should say.

_See you on the other side_.

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His body was of emerald fire again.

When the light died down, and the screaming stopped, Max realized his mind was his own again. He stopped moving, he stopped breathing, he stopped for just an instant as the force field came down and he found himself exposed to Dia once more.

His body hadn't changed much. It was larger, maybe a few inches or so, with quite a bit of extra muscle along the arms, legs, and chest. His chains weren't corporeal anymore, they were black marks that crossed his arms and his shoulders, creating intricate designs along his gauntlets. Everything else though, the helmet design that so looked like Gallade, the emerald and black colors, the rough armor, all that was still there, yet at the same time felt so incredibly different.

He realized he was still holding 415, and that she was still injured. I need to get her help, he thought. Her breathing was getting faint.

As if in response, the shadowy chains on his body began to slink down his fingers and, remarkably, jumped off his armor and bit through 415's forearm. She hissed, but then fell silent. Max was silent for a moment himself, until he was suddenly overwhelmed by what he discovered.

His energy was sapping away, he felt himself becoming woozy. His own raw healing power was being fed into 415. He could feel her bones sew up and heal underneath her armor, her bruises disappear, her strength return.

Of course, he thought. _I can absorb and control my Pokemon as if they were my own body. It makes sense this version of me can take pieces of itself into others and help them in the same way_. He waited until it seemed the shadow chains were done, at which point they withdrew from 415's body and back into his arms.

415 was still unconscious, so Max gently lowered her to the ground. He touched her brow, then returned to his attack formation. Other than the sudden display of his new power, most of the armor remains the same. He could still move, he could still think. It was just the silence in his head. He couldn't hear the Dark Emerald anymore. It wasn't whispering advice to him. He could still feel it, but it was so busy powering his body he couldn't speak to it anymore.

He pushed his loneliness from his mind, and faced Dia head on.

"So," she mused. "Ready to feed me yet?"

Max took a deep breath. "Not a chance," he said, in his own voice. "This fight's just getting started."

He pawed at the earth, stamped his feet, and charged forward.


	35. Morph 35

**Morph Thirty-Five: Obsession's Wrath: I Will Live Again!**

"They're in trouble," said 0.

He, May, and Serena had their attention trained on the monitor displaying the battle between Max and Dia. 0 had had the camera monitoring the situation focused on the fact that Max appeared to be transforming. There was some feedback on the screen, some static, but what was happening was clear.

"He's evolving," said Serena. "What's he evolving into?"

"He explained it to me once," said 0. "I think he's been in Chained Form since he got his powers. He would be evolving into Sealed Form. There's no telling what that means. There's no telling if he'll even be the same person."

"That doesn't sound right," said May. "Max will still be Max, even if he's evolved."

"Well, that may be," said 0. "But remember what happened when Sappho evolved. He was a weakling, but his powers got enough of a boost to give us a run for our money. The power overload may be too much for Max to handle on his own." He started moving. "I'm heading up there to help. He might need the whole tamer/Pokemon relationship thing to keep himself calm."

"I'm coming too," said Serena.

0 shook his head. "We need at least one person behind to make sure Ranger Downs stays secure. Brock won't be able to do much to help us, and May and Sarah aren't much in the fighting department."

"Hey!" said Sarah.

0 chuckled softly. "Sorry, baby girl. Be a brave little girl, but don't go fighting. You're still recovering from last time." He turned to May. "You remember the drill for the failsafe, right?"

She nodded. "Seal all entrances into Ranger Downs. Get Sarah into the safe space. Coordinate from the watchtower monitor."

"And that's why I love you," he said. "Silver, you stay put."

She blew him a raspberry and transformed. "Not interested. I've been sitting out of too many fights lately. I'm feeling frisky."

0 groaned. "Fine. You stay in the house, though. You can set up a preliminary defense system in the house. It'll buy May a little time to teleport herself, Sarah, and Brock if things go really south."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get rolling."

Rangers Gold and Silver leapt up the stairs and the door sealed itself behind them. 0 and Serena headed through the kitchen and towards the front door. It was in the atrium they found themselves suddenly stopped by an invading force of Rangerlings. Ame stood in the middle with a grim look on her face.

"Ranger Gold," she said softly. "I see you persist."

"That's the general plan," he replied. "Mind getting out of our way?"

Ame shook her head. "There is no force that will allow me to comply with that request. My Rangerlings will have you, then Ranger Silver, and then they will have your wife, daughter, and friend. Dia will devour your friends outside. Then my contract will finally conclude."

"There's a little problem with that," said Serena.

Ame raised her brow. "Oh? What might that be?"

Serena patted Ranger Gold on the back. "My buddy here. See, he don't take kindly to you folks, and he did totally destroy your beastie Top. Methinks he won't be held back for long by a few dozen Rangerlings."

Ame smirked. "True, I suppose. Ranger Gold has been allowed to grow at an unchecked rate over the course of our little war. However, there is such a thing as quantity when quality remains stagnant. Let us see how you do against two hundred Rangerlings. I assure you they're merely waiting for you to tire out before they overrun you like a horde of Durant." She looked 0 right in the face. "Tell me something, Ranger Gold. How long do you think you will last before my sheer numbers overwhelm you? How long do you think Eme will last out there before he is eaten? How long until Ranger Black falls? How many of us do you think you can destroy before you can even find out?"

0 crouched. "Every last one of you. Silver?"

Serena nodded. "Go. I'm pretty sure I can handle just a few hundred of these. I've been hitting the gym."

"Good. I'll deal with the preliminary wave. Think you might need Rescue Mode for this."

"No promises, but I'll make sure your family's safe."

"Stay safe. You're part of the family too."

Serena blushed underneath her visor. "Don't make me regret this," she grumbled.

0 chuckled. "Right."

Ame cleared her throat. Both 0 and Serena looked at her. "If you are quite done," she murmured, "shall we conclude this?"

0 nodded. "Ready…_go_!"

0 exploded in a bright flash of light. Instantly, ten Rangerlings surrounding him vanished in rapid bursts of dust. Serena could barely track him as he rocketed around the room with his Bolt Blade. But he was gone before she knew it and the door he'd used was smashed on its hinges, leaving her to face off against one hundred and seventy Rangerlings.

"Guess that just leaves you and me, Dewgong," she said.

"I suppose so, little Serena," it replied. "What should we do?"

Serena shrugged. "Can we even use Rescue Mode?"

"My records indicate that there was a Rescue Mode created when we were Ranger White, but I can't say for certain whether or not it still works."

"Might as well try it. Fire up the Frost Fans and Rescue Mode."

"Very well, then."

Serena's entire body started to glow with a faint blue light. Her armor seemed to fold in on itself, transforming into a brighter, crystal-like material that was giving off a tremendous amount of cold. The surrounding temperature dropped and the air near her became visible and wispy. She twitched her fingers to ensure the Frost Fans were still there, it had been so long since she'd used them, and she brought them up to her attack stance.

"Rescue Mode, activated," said Dewgong.

"Thank you," said Serena. She didn't quite feel like anything had changed, but decided she would trust Dewgong's word that everything was operational. She noticed the Rangerlings growing impatient. One was too impatient and punched her right in the chest before she could even react. She expected pain and grunted, but there was nothing.

Instead of injuring her, the Rangerling began emitting some sort of violent, agonized shriek. That's when Serena looked down, and realized that its hand was stuck to her chest, and that the hand was turning into ice. "I'm…freezing it alive?" Serena wondered aloud. She lifted her arm and brought a Frost Fan down on its hand, which shattered instantly. The Rangerling whimpered and fell straight to the floor.

"Is my entire body ice?" she wondered. She tried touching her shoulder, but she didn't freeze to herself. Then she took a step forward and realized that the floor beneath her feet had frozen completely solid. She could have given it a little tap and broken right through.

"So everything freezes but me?" she asked herself, and then grinned. "Oh, this is going to be plenty useful."

She ran up to the nearest Rangerling and punched it directly in the gemstone in its chest. Its chest froze instantly, and when Serena drew her fist back the chest simply broke apart and the little monster collapsed into a pile of black dust.

She punched her fists together, and turned to the rest of the party. "Next," she said with a smirk. "Come on. You should know I'm not a one boy show."

Ame turned to her forces. "Everyone, attack. She cannot touch all of you. Overwhelm her, pin her down, and be about our business."

The Rangerlings obeyed and charged forward. Serena ducked out of the way of the first wave but wasn't so lucky with the second. They slammed into her and she heard them shriek the instant they touched her. She got through quickly, using the Frost Fans to keep a majority of them at bay and away from her body and smashing through the ones who had been unlucky enough to get too close.

"Left, little Serena!" shouted Dewgong.

Serena flipped and twisted her body left, just barely avoiding two Rangerlings attempting to jump and cover her with their bodies. She tagged both of them on the back and their entire shoulders, back, and neck froze instantly. She smashed them apart with her fans.

"Thanks for the assist," she said. "Now what?"

Dewgong thought for a moment. "I can apply power to your boots to make everything they touch turn to ice. Are you still good at skating, little Serena?"

Serena smirked. "I don't even want to think about how long ago that was. Better fire it up."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

In reflection, Max didn't remember doing much thinking while transformed. Usually, his mind would sort of doze off and a gentle haze would settle in. He would be part of the action, but distant from it as well. It was often like directing a movie. He could suggest changes and revisions to the motion of his body, but it was always as though someone else was controlling those specific motions for him. The Dark Emerald had always been there to help, always whispering suggestions to keep him, them, alive. Always…

Until now. For the first time, Max found himself fighting alone with a quiet mind and one hundred percent control over his body. It was frustrating. He would tell the arm to move, and it would move a little too quickly. His control over his transformed body was unrefined, and he paid the price for it by continuously missing Dia. Each blow moved entirely too quickly, and each blow swung wildly to a location Max assumed Dia would be at, but would never arrive at fast enough to connect.

"It's too quiet," he muttered with his own voice. That in itself was strange, Max was so used to thinking the words to say, and then having them flow out in Gallade's growl, that hearing his own voice was an experience in of itself. "Too quiet." He was so used to hearing the Dark Emerald whispering to him, pushing him on, looking out for him, that being on his own was a little nerve-wracking, even with his newfound strength.

"Little Eme," she hissed, "what's wrong with you? Why won't you play right? I wanna play right."

Max didn't respond. He was far too busy avoiding the tentacle growing out of her back. He missed his chains. He was so used to relying on them to help him in combat. Now he just had his flimsy arms that couldn't extend or anything.

"Wait," he said to himself. "The chains."

He extended the shadowy chains and bit into Dia's skin. Dia grunted briefly, and then started laughing. Max instantly understood why, he felt his strength start fading away into Dia's body. He tore himself away immediately, his breath ragged, and paused to regain his strength.

"Do you want to lose the game, Eme?" she asked. "You should know you can't take, only give. What a silly mistake to make. That's like losing your queen to a pawn in chess!"

Max recovered quickly, but the fight was getting more and more dangerous. His Dark Gem had radically shifted his battle style, his entire body felt different. Dia, meanwhile, seemed perfectly comfortable in her new body and was more than happy to try to take Max's head off. Max wasn't sure if that could kill him, but he wasn't exactly eager to find out.

"Finding it hard to move that new body?" asked Dia. "Don't worry. I'll gobble it up soon enough."

Max dodged, drawing Dia away from 415's body. She now stood a good two hundred feet away from his fight, just where he wanted her. He couldn't have the distraction of having to fight Dia for 415. It was a fight he knew would take a toll on whatever new powers he'd achieved.

"If I can't attack with these new powers and I'm too unused to moving my own body, then what good is this thing?" he wondered. He just barely avoided getting wrapped up by Dia's tentacle before he noticed a shadow descending from the sky. "What the—"

What it was, Max immediately found out, was 0 tucking his wings into a dive in Chariard Form. He heard the roar not two seconds later, a mighty blast of volume and wrath that even made Max's heart skip a beat. Max did what anyone else would have done, and made the decision to clear the blast radius as 0 rocketed down to earth.

"Synchronization Drive: Inferno!" 0 roared. Everything surrounding him turned red as he body slammed Dia and seared her body in a flash of fire and heat.

Max could smell Dia cooking when 0 stood up and positioned himself away from her reforming, mangled body. "You look different," he said, taking in the subtle changes in Max's ranger form.

He nodded. "So do you. I take it Z came back?"

"It's as if I was being pummeled by Entei," said 0, and then turned to look at Dia. "Having some trouble?"

Max grunted. "It's not so much trouble as it is getting used to everything. I don't have my chains anymore. I can't hear the Dark Emerald anymore. It's all really confusing."

0 nodded. "My advice is to worry about it later, right now we need to figure out a way to put her down." The two of them agreed, and then turned to face the smoky monster.

Dia was not happy, not happy at all. She screamed murder as she stood up. Steam was pouring out from all over her body and one of her three arms had been reduced to a melted husk. "You don't get to play with me like that!" she shrieked. "Nobody gets to play with me like that!" She stamped her good leg and charged forward like a wounded beast. "Nobody!"

"Max, split up!" Both 0 and Max jumped in opposing directions and circled around, dealing blows to the monster's sides. Dia roared, but couldn't reach them. Both rangers kept up the pace, striking and striking every chance they got.

The only problem was they weren't damaging Dia at all. Every time they would get in a blow she would bellow, but it was more out of annoyance because she couldn't reach them. If she tried to focus on one, all they had to do was have that ranger withdraw and the other would take over until she switched her focus, and the cycle repeated over and over again.

"We're not doing anything!" shouted Max.

"Great," 0 grunted. "Why is it every time I get a power up, these fools come right back with something stronger?" He ducked underneath the tentacle and regrouped next to Max. "We need a new plan."

"Wait," said Max. "I—I think I might have one."

"What?"

"My new powers," he said. "They don't exactly do much for me, but I was able to heal 415 when she was injured and most of her got repaired. And when I tried to absorb Dia's power, she just sucked up my own strength. What if I gave my strength to you? Together we're pretty tough, but if we put our combined power into the one body, it might be enough to take her down."

0 didn't have much time to think about it. It wouldn't take long before Dia, even in her warped mental state, understood what was going on. "Will it affect me? I mean, will the effect be the same as it was with you?"

Max shrugged. "I barely know if it's going to work now! We don't have another option and she's not going to be distracted forever."

"Then do it," said 0. "Z, get ready."

Max concentrated, and the shadowy chains slipped off his wrists and fingers to bind themselves into 0. They dug into the armor and touched the infrared particles that made up 0's body. 0 grunted, and then relaxed as an overwhelming burst of energy flooded into him. Max felt his energy slip away, touching the particles that made up 0's body, when he made an interesting discovery.

It wasn't anything too noticeable, he barely saw it. Just a flash, an instant, of flesh and blood inside 0's body. Then it was gone, and there was nothing to be seen but infrared.

"0, what was that?" asked Max.

0 barely heard him. "W-What?"

"Your body, it's still—" Max felt his head lighten, he couldn't think. 0 had drained too much energy from him. He felt his knees grow weak. In response, his shadow chains instantly retracted from 0 and back into Max's arms. Max then felt his armor fade away and he found himself sinking to the ground.

"Max!" 0 shouted. He caught Max just before he collapsed. "Max! Speak to me!"

Max's voice was faint. "…Fine," he mumbled. "Your body though. It's…" Then his eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious.

"What about my body?" 0 shouted.

"Focus your attention," said Z. 0 looked up. "The monster has made progress towards your base of operations. Our power output suggests it will be impossible for it to ignore us."

Z was right. He felt a surge of energy supplementing his already-supercharged Chariard Form. There was a faint green aura around him, 0 figured it was the Dark Emerald energy from Max. Strangely, it wasn't conflicting with the Ailed Morpher. The two energy sources seemed to be flowing well together.

"Right," he said. 0 casually walked up to Dia and punched her right in the face with a Dragon Claw. She stopped dead in her tracks and was thrown back by the force of the blow. 0 watched her fall all over herself and positioned himself in between the Dark Diamond Ranger and Ranger Downs.

"Stop playing so rough!" she screamed. "I'm getting hungry!"

She started hobbling forward, trying as hard as she could to run. 0 just prepared a defensive stance to target the giant gemstone in the center of her chest. "You're not eating anyone, Dia!" he shouted. "I'm sending you to join your father!"

"Don't talk about Daddy!" Suddenly, and 0 hadn't been expecting it, Dia's entire body shifted and flattened out into a huge wave that crashed into him. 0 couldn't target anything, he could barely cover himself in Z's wings fast enough before he was swallowed up. Everything went black and he found himself being constricted.

"Now I eat you!" she cackled. "Grind your bones to make my bread!"

"Suggestions?" asked 0 calmly. She wasn't quite strong enough to pierce through his wing cover.

"Inferno could melt you along with the beast," it noted. "Dragon Claw will not succeed in piercing its hold on you."

"Okay. What could we do?"

"We are supercharged, regardless of whether I am the Pokemon aiding you, yes? Is there no one else we might make use of?"

0 thought. "Of course. Prepare to switch out." He would not have a lot of time between Pokemon, and Dia might sense what he was doing. He removed Tork's Poke Ball from its holster and positioned it as close as he could to his morpher. "Now!"

Z's ball ejected and the wings vanished. He set Z's ball safely on his belt and literally shoved Tork's Poke Ball inside the morpher. Instantly, his mind shifted from the energetic rage that Z gave him and towards a tranquil peace as Oal Form set in. 0 felt Tork's mind touch him and greet him, it'd been so long since they'd worked together. 0 felt the extra armor clamp down on his body and Dia increase the pressure. But that was fine, he thought. He and Tork were more than capable of taking things from here.

As if in response, Tork instantly generated the blue force field that was Protect. This time, however, 0 noticed a faint piece of green amidst the blue, the effects of the Dark Emerald. Then, Tork and 0 calmly started to expand the force field further and further out until it was a huge bubble.

"No!" shouted Dia. She contracted, trying to force them down, but to no avail. "No no no no no no no no!"

She exploded rather suddenly, and bits of diamond scattered around 0 as he looked up into the beautiful sky.

Tork was concerned, but 0 calmed it down. After all, they had yet to shatter her diamond. Surely she would reform and reform until that was taken care of. They watched as the little flecks of gemstone did indeed begin squirming around in an effort to join themselves together again.

0 turned his attention to Max and 415. They appeared safe and were regaining consciousness. Good, they thought. One less thing to worry about. 415 recovered first and, seeing what was going on, immediately moved to drag Max further away from the conflict. 0 and Tork made a mental note to thank them later.

Dia was almost completely reformed, but the giant hulk was gone. Instead, they saw a tiny little girl in a costume that seemed entirely too evil for her to be wearing. Dia perked up her head.

"You won't kill little old me, will you?" she asked sweetly. "I'm just a little girl."

0 and Tork knew better than to trust her. This was her last gambit and they wouldn't be following it. 0 moved forward to end the battle, but suddenly stopped. An image flashed inside his mind, a single photo of Sarah in almost the exact same pose. In that moment, in that crucial instant of decision, 0 froze.

That instant was all she needed. Dia rushed forward and drove him to his knees. He let her. She bent his body backwards and grabbed him by the neck. He let her. She positioned her claws so that they would rip apart his morpher in their next strike. He let her do that, too.

"Goodbye to you," she whispered. "Guess you can't do anything right, huh?"

She moved, but never finished. Her claw ended up just millimeters away from 0's morpher. 0, for a brief instance, believed himself dead, until Tork assured him that he was quite alive. He turned his head and saw what had saved him.

Serena's hand had gone straight through the Dark Diamond Ranger, freezing the Dark Diamond and shattering it instantly. That was all it had taken. Just a quick flick of Serena's wrist and Dia was done.

Dia started giggling. She tilted her head back and cackled at the sky. "You'll never defeat us," she hissed. "You'll never win. We'll just keep coming and coming until there's nothing left for you to live for. We'll take May, we'll take Sarah, and in the end you'll be just like my Daddy. Daddy couldn't protect me from dying. He couldn't save me." Her helmet vanished, and 0 looked into her cold, terrifying eyes one last time. "You won't save them either. Either they'll die, or you will, Goldilocks."

And then she crumbled into dust and 0 fell back onto the ground.

Oal Form instantly disengaged. Tork's Poke Ball went rolling on the grass, and 0 grabbed it before it got too far. "W-What's happening?" he asked, still a bit disoriented from Tork's influence. All he could think of was the little girl.

Serena shut down her Rescue Mode and helped him up. "Gave you an assist. You looked like you could use it."

"No, that's fair. I can't be the one to kill them all," he said. He adjusted himself. "What about the Rangerlings? Did you deal with all of them?"

She nodded. "Yeah, this Rescue Mode thing is awesome. Can't believe I never tried it before. I might just be even stronger than you."

0 chuckled. "I can still burn you to a crisp. Keep that in mind, ice queen." 415 and Max were approaching, Max having regained consciousness. "How are you feeling?"

"Normal," said 415. "There was minimal damage thanks to the Dark Gem's new ability."

"I'm okay too," said Max. "Guess my healing powers got a boost with the rest of my status." He dropped his smile for a moment. "It's still a bit quiet in my head."

"You'll probably just have to readjust how you talk with it," said 0. "You can still feel it in there, right?"

He nodded. "It's definitely there."

0 clasped him on the back. "Well, how's about we go inside then? I think we've earned a very nice vacation."

The others could not have agreed more.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

There was a lot to do, and a very short amount of time in which it could be accomplished.

There was, unfortunately, nothing that could be done involving the damage done to Brock's arms and legs. Despite the fact that he had managed to heal 415's broken bones and bruises, Max could not generate entirely new tissues and revitalize the muscles underneath Brock's skin. He would remain a cripple, until such time as prosthetics could be developed to supplement for his ruined body.

However, all was not lost. Though Max couldn't repair everything, he was able to return some of Brock's body to life. The vital organs that had been damaged during his torture, and his eyesight, were returned to perfect working order. When Brock opened his eyes for the first time and actually saw his rescuers, tears of gratitude trickled down his face.

"I…I can see," he mumbled. "And the pain, it's gone!"

"The limbs will have to be replaced," said 415. "I will have the computer begin the process of constructing blueprints for the new prosthetics. They will be metal, but odds favor you walking again."

"Oh, that's alright," he said, then turned sharply towards Serena. "Just the gift of sight is all I need to make my day."

Serena smirked. "Your friend is a flatterer, 0. You should warn him about me."

"We usually have things to keep him under control," said 0. "By the way, Brock?"

"Yeah?"

"We managed to get back into your hotel room and swipe your stuff, seeing as you'll be staying here from now on. We made it look like a robbery gone bad. Jenny's already listed you as a missing person." He pulled out two Poke Balls and released Swampert and Chansey. Both Pokemon immediately rushed towards their trainer with a flurry of concern.

"Hey, hey, easy!" said Brock. "I'm alright, I'll be okay."

"_Chansey_!" shouted Chansey and instantly pushed 415 out of the way so it could begin taking care of him. Swampert similarly moved to assist the Chansey in any way.

"Well, it would appear we now have a full medical team," said 415. "Good. This means everyone can stop coming to me for diagnostics."

"Brock," said 0, ignoring 415. "Swampert and Chansey weren't the only Pokemon we found in your room."

Brock inched his way around his bed to look at 0. "They weren't?"

0 shook his head and produced another two Poke Balls. "There was also a girl in the hotel room. One of Dia's victims. Do you remember her?"

There was a flash of recognition across Brock's face. "I—Yes," he said. "Before Ame got me, there was a girl in the bathroom. I met her during the day. Christie, right?"

0 shrugged. "I didn't check identification. She had two Pokemon on her. I decided to confiscate them since they were Unova Pokemon. It could take years for them to track down the next of kin for these Pokemon, and it'll only take us a few weeks. They allowed me to bring them here with me to work with us until they can be returned to their trainer's family." He opened both Poke Balls. Darmanitan and Elgyem emerged in two flashes of light.

"Oh, you guys." Brock attempted to sit up, but Chansey violently forced him down. "You were Christie's Pokemon. You guys got caught up in this too, huh?"

"_Darmanitan_," said the Darmanitan with a soft nod of its head.

"_Elgyem, ele elgyem_," said Elgyem with a determined look on its face.

"What?" asked Serena.

"They won't be going anywhere," 0 translated. "Darmanitan and Elgyem have decided to join our team until they avenge their trainer's murder. I've decided they'll operate in Ranger Downs with Brock's Pokemon."

Elgyem nodded, and immediately rose off the ground to take a position at the primary computer terminal. Darmanitan joined it. "_Elgyem, ele_," it said with a nod.

"_Manitan_," said Darmanitan.

"Looks like things are getting a bit crowded in here," said May. "We're going to have to build all new sleeping quarters for the Pokemon."

0 grinned. "Not to mention this guy." In addition to Tork and Lu, Z popped out of its Poke Ball to reintroduce itself.

"Woof," said Serena. "You really couldn't have brought that one out sooner? If you'd mentioned you had a super powerful Pokemon like that I would have made you get back in the helicopter and fetch a whole batch of them for your Auxiliary Pokemon System."

"Actually, that might not be a bad idea," said Max. "Think you and May could take a trip down to Pallet and grab some more Pokemon?"

"A trip to Pallet?" 0 asked. "I haven't been there in a few years. Besides…" He gestured at himself. "I'm not exactly suitable for travel as I am right now."

"We could crate him," Serena suggested. "We'll tell them May has a huge pile of clothes in a giant suitcase. It's not like he has a back to ruin anymore." Everyone gave Serena a dirty look. "Too soon to joke about the morph-trapping thing?" she asked.

"Very soon," said May. "We still don't know he's trapped. We could rig something up to help him." She turned to 0 and smiled. "Don't worry. You'll have your body back soon enough."

0 scratched his helmet, and then immediately wondered why he was doing that. "I don't know, sweetie. It was implied that the change was sort of permanent. But I'm up for trying anything."

"Well," said Max. "There was the thing that I saw."

"That's right," said 0. "You were trying to tell me something about my body, then you passed out."

"Didn't pass out, just lost a lot of juice," muttered Max. "Anyway, I noticed flesh and blood in there somewhere. It was just a little flash, and it seemed to move from place to place, but there are bits and pieces of your original body scattered inside your suit. At least, I think so."

"Impossible," said 415. "His body cannot be inside the armor. It has already stabilized into a form specifically designed for the infrared code inside. His body cannot be physical and infrared at the same time. It would be unprecedented."

"For humans, sure."

Everyone turned over to Brock's bed. He had just managed to fight Chansey off long enough to get a word in. "You guys haven't really explained what's going on to me, but I take it he's stuck in the suit, right?"

0 nodded. "Essentially."

"Does the suit run on technology similar to a Poke Ball?"

"The Ailed Morphers were designed to mimic a Poke Ball's functionality," said 415. "Only, instead of the Pokemon, the Ranger Mode comes out of the morpher."

"That's a weird name for a morpher," said Brock, "but if it's anything like a Poke Ball, I might be able to help answer why he's got a body and he's infrared at the same time."

"How?" asked everyone, almost at the same time.

"It's a glitch in the Poke Ball's programming. Used to see them all the time in the old days before the technology was perfected, but sometimes Pokemon wouldn't be completely converted while inside the Poke Ball. So bits of meat were swirling around in the infrared. Doesn't hurt the Pokemon, but it does make them more prone to being able to get out of their Poke Ball on their own. You run into the glitch every now and then, but if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't notice it." Then Brock sagged, as if the exercise of speaking had completely drained his newfound energy reserves. "Might explain why 0's breathing when he clearly wouldn't have any lungs as an infrared being." Then Brock rested his head against his pillow and the faint sound of snoring filled the room.

"Is he right?" 0 asked 415.

She shrugged. "I was unaware of such a study, it must be obscure. To his credit, Pokemon doctors do have a higher working knowledge of Poke Balls than the layman, as their patients frequently arrive in the Poke Balls. It would explain why some Pokemon have the ability to liberate themselves from Poke Balls at will. If pieces of their real body still exist inside the ball, they might be viewed as foreign material by the Poke Ball if they will themselves to be released and the entire Pokemon could be expelled whenever they pleased."

"We have had a few Pokemon like that. Ott and Misty's old Psyduck could do that." 0 rubbed his chin. "In any case, for them it was just something they could do. What if it's one of those things you either can do or you can't?"

May touched his arm. "Hey. We'll figure it out, okay? No need to take everything all at once. Here, why don't we go see our daughter? I'm pretty sure she'll want to know everything's safe and that her dad's back."

0 nodded and took her hand. "Sounds like a really, really great idea May." May led Ranger Gold out of the headquarters and towards Sarah's bedroom.

Serena grinned and folded her arms. "My, my, do I love a man in uniform," she lamented. "Ah well. Max, 415, think you can handle everything here? I'm going to go out on patrol."

"Patrol?" asked Max. "We just took down two Dark Gem Rangers. You really think they'll be back so quickly?"

Serena shrugged. "I have no idea. I'm sure Jenny would want to know why we leveled a good chunk of Goldenrod City last night, though. Plus, I'm second in command. Should do something to earn my keep, besides taking down giant girl monsters." She turned to Elgyem. "Think you can run this bad boy?"

Elgyem nodded. "_Gyem_," it said as a faint glow surrounded its body. Computer keys instantly began typing by themselves and the teleporter fired itself up. Serena stepped onto the platform.

"Do you already know where I'm going?" she asked it before transforming.

It nodded.

"Psychic types always come in handy," she said, then vanished.

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"Little Ame," whispered one voice. "Where are our other guests?"

"Yes," said another voice. "We specifically invited four other guests. Where are they? Our caterer will absolutely lose his head if we have to cancel another party."

Ame was standing in a small, surprisingly furnished cave. The lights were dim, but then again they always were. Ame bowed low then closed a door behind her. The cavern floor, while still a natural, slippery rock, had on it an old moldy carpet that she treaded on to take her seat next to the others. Like them, she too sat in an exceedingly tall leatherback chair which had a back that extended up to the ceiling.

"Apologies," she said. "The PKM Rangers have grown powerful in their exile from their employer. Dia and Top have fulfilled their contracts. We were unable to procure Serena Brine and May Birch."

"And how many Rangerlings lost?" asked the first voice.

""Three hundred total," she said. "Should we not dispatch them to detain more allies of Ranger Gold? There are several in Kanto and Unova that would prove adequate temptation."

One of the voices blew a raspberry. "There is no point in that, little Ame," he murmured. "We have only two thousand Rangerlings left. We cannot waste them on foolish schemes which have proven to fail in the past. No, no, his friends are not the problem here."

"The problem," said the other, "is you, little Ame."

"Me?" she asked. "My performance has been exemplary. I have carried out three of your last campaigns."

"Campaigns that have ended in failure!" One of them emerged from the shadows, Axi, and he ground his teeth. "Look, Ame, we like you. I like you, he likes you. We all like you. We're just wondering if maybe, just maybe, we could get on with the business of the rangers! We've been dealing with them for two years!"

"Enough already with the rangers!" agreed Bix. "Do we look like villains from a Saturday morning cartoon show? Do we look like we should be outwitted by My Little Ponytas every week for the amusement and entertainment of little girls and hairy men? No! We're real big time bad guys! And we keep losing to a guy with a Pikachu on his chest."

"How do you think that makes us feel?" asked Axi. "We have plans! Big, fancy, elegant plans! Classy plans! All we want to do is break things, _and you're not helping us do that, Ame_! You're just sneaking around while everything falls to pieces!"

"Maybe you don't want us to win," suggested Bix. "Maybe you don't want to be released from your contract."

"Incorrect," said Ame. "It is in my best interests that your endeavors succeed. The simple fact of the matter is that our staff continues to be outclassed regardless of our preparations."

"What staff?" spat Axi. "It's empty here in the cave. Bix and I have just each other for warmth! You're the only one that's left to do something!"

"You suggest I engage in combat?" she asked. "I was to understand that I was to never do so, under any circumstances. I almost violated my contract by rendering Dr. Harrison unconscious."

"Times have changed. We will authorize it," said Axi. "Won't we, Bix?"

Bix nodded. "Oh yes, there really is no other option, little Ame. Either you will bring us May Birch and little Serena, or we will crush you to death with our bare hands. Won't we, Axi?"

"Oh yes. No question. It's far too late in the game for you to run away like a little girl," said Axi.

"If you are suggesting that I run up to the PKM Rangers on my own, in their present and potential conditions, I will be slaughtered. There is no way to combat them with a sole Dark Gem anymore."

"Well duh!" shouted Axi. "Obviously you'd be slaughtered. We wouldn't want that, would we Bix?"

Bix shook his head. "Not at all," he agreed. "Then we'd have to get up and do something about it. We don't want that, do we Axi?"

"Not one bit. We're so comfortable down here." Axi reached into his pocket and fished out something shiny, something that sparkled in the faint light of the cavern. "Here you go! Hopefully this will solve all the problems in the world!"

He tossed it to Ame and she inspected it. "Another Dark Gem? If I may ask, to whom am I to bestow this Dark Ruby? We hardly have any worthy Rangerlings. The last time that happened we created Sap, and I recall the mess that Sap was."

Axi shrugged. "Give it to whoever you like! We don't care, do we Bix?"

"No we don't! But you should. It's your pretty little tasty head on the chopping block, not ours. So go, be off with you. We have opera tickets."

"Silly Bix," said Axi. "We're going to the ballet tonight. I'm so sorry, little Ame. He just gets so messed up sometimes in the head. I think it's all the fish he eats."

"That'll do, little Ame," said Bix. "Don't make us regret all the time we put into you."

Ame required no further instruction. She rose and left the cavern, shutting the door behind her. She crossed through the cave and found herself outside, staring at the moon.

She could feel the pulsations of the Dark Gem beneath her clothes, and gently lifted it from a pocket in her coat. The Dark Ruby told her where to go, and a small smile slid across her face. "Of course," she murmured. There was perhaps no one better to fill the position. "And away we go."

Ame always did find the Orre desert beautiful at night. The moon was high, and the stars were out, a familiar sight in the desert but one she always missed when she had to go to cities with their bright lights and noise. She followed the moon east from the cave, heading towards a remote location on the outside of Pyrite Town. It would not be viewable to those with normal eyes, but luckily for Ame there would be no problems.

She passed through the force field without any issue. The field did not even register her presence; she simply slipped through the atoms that composed it with a teeny bit of intangibility. Bullets immediately began to whiz around her, two hundred of them actually phased through her before she got to the complex. She tore through the soldiers guarding the front as quickly as one might rip through construction paper. She killed none, that was not part of her contract, but she did leave many of them regretting every decision in their lives that had led up to meeting her.

The facility had not changed since her last visit. She walked through the familiar corridors until she came to the room she wanted, the room she knew he would be in.

Him, whispered the Dark Ruby. Only him.

She simply walked through the door, not bothering to even give the man the chance to open it for her. When she walked in, she found him sitting behind his desk, ever calm in the face of danger.

"Why, don't I know you?" he asked her. "What brings you all the way to my neck of the woods?"

"A proposition," she replied, and pulled the Dark Ruby from her pocket, "and a chance for revenge."

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"So, why don't you just go back to your regular name?"

Brock and 0 sat in the peace of Ranger Downs, finally alone after a very long couple of days. 0 had found a seat, and had joined Brock by his bedside.

"It's a difficult situation," said 0. "When I went into PKM full time, they didn't want me recognized, so they sent me to this camp designed to reinvent me. I mean, I can barely talk the way I used to anymore, I've got this weird Orre twang I can't get rid of if I tried. I walk different, I move differently. You didn't recognize me when you met me."

"I didn't?"

"There was a dinner in Saffron I think we met at. Barely registered me."

"Huh. Well, I didn't recognize you this time because of the whole…you know…spandex thing."

0 laughed. "I used to call them spandexes, until I actually got in one. This one's closer to Kevlar."

"Fancy," said Brock. "So, I guess I just sort of sit here until they figure out what to do with my arms and legs, right?"

0 shrugged. "They replaced my shoulder a while back. Completely cut everything out. I never even missed it. Odds are good they'll just hack off your arms and legs and put in some first rate cybernetics."

"Somehow I don't think I'm as excited about my limbs getting cut off," said Brock. "I've kind of grown attached to them, if you see what I mean."

"Don't worry. With Chansey here, I'm sure the operation will be a breeze. It knows Sing, right?"

"Yeah, it knows Sing. Trainers almost always prefer that to anesthesia when Pokemon need surgery."

"Well then you'll be fine. I had to have my operation without any, so consider yourself lucky."

Brock chuckled, then looked 0 over. "I have to say, when we were traveling together this wasn't exactly how I pictured everything turning out."

0 looked himself over. "I suppose not," he agreed.

"I mean, I figured I'd get to at least third base with a woman before I died. Now…" He looked himself over and shook his head. "Couldn't even make the move if I tried. Life sucks sometimes."

0 laughed. They heard footsteps coming from the staircase.

"That can be arranged, big boy," said Serena, the first to come down. "You think you're man enough to handle me?"

Brock looked her over. "Well, I already got you on one date. Might as well try for the jackpot."

Serena turned to 0. "Remind him I'm bad news."

0 turned to Brock. "Brock, she's bad news. I've seen her run many a man ragged in just one afternoon."

Brock just grinned sheepishly. "Never hurts to dream."

"Now that's the spirit," said Serena, just as May wandered downstairs.

"Oh, hey May," said Brock. "I'm feeling much better."

"That's good to hear," said May, though she seemed distracted for some reason. "Uh, 0, could I see you for just a second please?"

Serena appeared concerned about something. "May, are you sure? I mean, really sure?"

"Sure about what?" asked 0.

May nodded. "I'm absolutely sure, thank you Serena." She faced 0. "Come on. We need to have a talk."

"Somebody's in trouble," said Brock with a chuckle. He nudged in 0's direction with his shoulder. "Go on. I'm sure Serena can keep me company for a few minutes."

0 nodded and rose. Serena took his place and he followed May up the stairs. 0 wasn't sure what was going on. His wife didn't seem mad at him. On the contrary, she seemed nervous about something. She passed the porch too and led him upstairs. They kept moving until 0 found himself in his daughter's room.

Sarah still looked pretty bad, but Max had been to heal her and most of the bruising was gone, along with her broken bones. There were a few shiners along her face, and her bones still ached if she moved too quickly, but Sarah was on the mend. Her face lit up when she saw her parents, and 0 could tell it was taking every bit of restraint in her little body not to jump out and hug them.

He patted her on the head. "You being a good girl, Sarah?" he asked.

She nodded. "Dad's brave little girl," she replied.

"No kidding brave little girl," he said. "Not too many adults can get through what you got through without wetting themselves."

"Ewwwww, Dad!" squealed Sarah and she pulled the covers over her face to hide her embarrassment.

"Now, now," said May. "Out from under there, baby girl. We're having a family meeting."

Sarah poked her head out. "Then where's Uncle Max, Uncle Brock, Aunt Serry, and 415?"

May shook her head. "Not the whole family. Just you, me, and your dad."

"Oh, okay." Sarah instantly sat up.

May paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out the right words to use. Finally, she said, "I wanted to tell the both of you together. I wasn't sure if I was going to, but now that Dad's gone and got himself trapped, there's really no danger in letting him know."

"Letting me know what?" asked 0. "Are you alright?"

She nodded and smiled. "I'm fine, sweetie. 415, Serena, and I weren't sure how you were going to handle the news. We decided to keep it a secret because you were in a pretty fragile emotional state. Now that you seem better, you can know."

She took his hand in hers. "What's going on, May?" asked 0.

"Yeah!" shouted Sarah. "What's going on, Mom?"

She blushed. "Sarah's going to have a little brother or sister," she explained. She patted her stomach. "I'm not too far along, but we're sure. I'm pregnant."

Sarah, after a few seconds to work out what exactly the news meant, was the first to respond. "You're going to have a baby, Mom? A baby!" She jumped up and down on the bed and started hollering. "I'm gonna be a big sister! I'm gonna be a big sister! Yay!" She kept jumping until the euphoria died down and the pain from her ribs kicked in, at which point she still kept cheering from a seated position on the bed.

0 had not moved. His hand was still being held by May. "Are you alright?" May asked. "Is this…you know, okay?"

He slowly turned. "Okay? This is…the best news I've ever heard in my life! This is better than when I got Pikachu, better than we got married, almost as good as when Sarah was born. This is…" He paused, and placed his hand where his heart would have been. "I don't exactly have words to describe what I'm feeling right now. It's just…my heart is beating so fast. It's going a mile a minute!" He grabbed her hand and placed it against his chest. "Can you feel it? It's there."

She nodded in surprise. "I can feel it," she said.

"I mean, I just feel like exploding. I can't—" Suddenly, 0 groaned and bent over onto the floor. He twitched and moaned as his body started glowing.

"0!" shouted May. "0, what's wrong?"

"Dad?" Sarah shouted. "Dad!"

But 0 couldn't hear them. He was too busy dealing with some odd sort of pain. He was aware it was there, and the pieces that made up his body were being ripped apart, but it was almost as though he was outside himself while it happened. "I feel really funny, guys!" he muttered. Then, just as suddenly as it began, the pain stopped and he found himself able to stand up again. "Sorry about that, I guess there was still some residual—"

May abruptly cut him off by screaming very loudly and cupping her mouth with her hands. Sarah joined suit, and 0 wasn't sure why.

"Hey!" he barked, and scratched at the hair on his head. "What're you screaming at me for? I'm the one who—" Then 0 stopped talking, because he realized he had just scratched the hair on the top of his head. Hesitant, as if he were certain it had just been a trick, he raised his hand and felt the top of his head again.

Coarse, black locks met his fingertips. Suddenly, 0 realized he had fingertips again. He moved passed May and Sarah and towards a dresser mirror in Sarah's room. There, sure enough, was his old face and his old body looking back at him. He turned to his family.

"Do you see it too?" he asked them. Slowly, in unison, May and Sarah nodded their heads. "Then I'm not hallucinating?" Once more in unison, May and Sarah shook their heads. "Then, I'm back?"

"Dad!" shouted Sarah, and all but tackled him to the floor. May followed suit, covering his face with kisses.

"Hey, this is great!" he shouted. "Now the kid won't just have pictures of me. He'll be able to see the real genuine article."

"Are you sure that would be an improvement?" 0 looked up, 415 was standing in the doorway with a strange expression stapled to her face. It wasn't surprise, no, it was something else.

"Are you trying to look baffled, 415?" he asked, focusing on the task of figuring out her expression. Then, as if there was some sort of switch, he felt the strange pain again and noticed he was back into his own Ranger Gold uniform.

415 coughed. "The expression I was going for was incredulity," she replied. "It appears you have managed to manipulate the glitch Brock Harrison spoke of."

0 looked himself over again. He was back to the uniform. "Not for long, though. Guess I really am stuck like this."

415 shook her head. "Hope springs eternal, Ranger Gold. Perhaps there are other ways of extending the glitch. Should we run some tests?"

0 nodded. "Absolutely. I haven't had a nap in five years, and I can't wait to try them out with my brand new body."

"Then right this way. And bring the three of them with you. They might prove useful."

"The three of them?" It took a moment for 0 to remember. "Oh yeah." He turned to his wife and daughter and offered them his arms. "Shall the four of us go downstairs and see about this glitch of mine?"

May rubbed her belly and nodded. "Love to, dear."

Sarah practically tackled her father's arm. "We're having a baby! We're having a baby!"

0 laughed. "Yes we are, baby girl. Yes we are."

Then they went down the stairs.


	36. Morph 36

**Morph Thirty-Six: Brand New Day**

"Your name escapes me, young lady," said the man, offering Ame a seat across from his desk. She took it, still cradling the Dark Ruby in her hands.

"I am called Ame, Alexander Charon," she replied. "As I said, my employers wish to discuss some business with you. Business that concerns your PKM Rangers."

Charon laughed. "I'm afraid you're misinformed, Ms. Ame. You see, PKM no longer has rangers. Too volatile, I think was the word. Much better just to have loyal soldiers, though I will admit my own business has been lacking somewhat without the brand name the rangers gave me."

"Our business has similarly lacked progress due to your rangers," said Ame. "This business, which must be completed as soon as possible, requires the absolute destruction of the PKM Rangers. I believe we could be of mutual benefit to one another."

Charon raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked. "And what mutual benefit might that be?"

"Perhaps an anecdote would best explain our situation, Alexander Charon," said Ame.

Charon raised his hand. "By all means, Ms. Ame."

"Thank you. Alexander Charon, have you ever wondered why this country of Orre has no naturally occurring Pokemon? Why there are no native Pokemon, despite our distance from other countries such as Hoenn or Kanto? Surely there should be some native species, but there are not. Have you ever wondered why that was?"

"I assumed it was because Orre is a barren wasteland," said Charon. "Humans colonized it centuries ago, but there wasn't anything living here before we arrived."

Ame shook her head. "That is the popular theory, but no. Pokemon existed, perhaps more powerful than any others due to the harsh terrain they lived in. Yet there are none alive today. Humans must import Pokemon, and even the wild Pokemon are non-native Pokemon that have only just begun to thrive in the environment. Tell me, Alexander Charon, do you find it odd that Orre's entire population of native Pokemon would suddenly, inexplicably vanish without a trace?"

"In truth, no," said Charon. "I don't care much for them myself. Always crawling around where humans should be. It's one of the reasons so few PKM Agents have Pokemon."

Ame tilted her head. "Well, the reality is that the Pokemon disappeared for a specific reason. Do you recall the myth of the Pyrite Trickster?"

Charon chuckled. "Ah, yes. I'm familiar. Something about a man who appeared and promised the people a great power, but one that cost them all their Pokemon. What of it?"

"That man was Nicholas Brine," said Ame. "You may recall him as an ancestor of one of the three founding families of PKM, as well as an ancestor to one of the rangers. Nicholas was a native of Orre at the time of its settlement, when there was much strife within the region. Forces from the north threatened to seize Orre unless something was done. Nicholas found a way through old tomes that spoke of the Dark Gems. He decided to forge three gems of monumental power, strong enough to turn the tide of war. But, in doing this, Orre paid a price."

"The price being?" asked Charon.

"The price was the life of each and every Pokemon within the boundaries of the Orre region. Millions of lives, scores of species lost in an instant. And through that sacrifice, three Dark Gems were born, the likes of which have never been seen on this planet. Two of them contained the minds and souls of the Pokemon that were sacrificed, but this gem I offer you contains the bodily power of those Pokemon. It is the least powerful of the three, but it is substantially stronger than mine."

"How interesting," said Charon, as he eyed the gem. "But whatever happened to this Nicholas fellow?"

"He was ostracized. His family exiled him for his actions and he died alone, researching how to harness the power of the Dark Gems. He died holding his three Dark Gems, as he could never activate them himself. He died holding the bodies, minds, and souls of every Pokemon in Orre. Now I offer you the opportunity to extract revenge with me against your PKM Rangers."

Charon considered it, then shook his head. "I am afraid, Ms. Ame, that such actions would not result in revenge against the rangers. The simple truth is that they continue to outsmart you and to defeat you. Did you ever consider why that is?"

"They are underestimated by our operatives."

"No. You have no power over them. Threaten them, fine. Hurt them, good, but where is the fun in it? Where is the joy you should feel every time they feel pain and suffering? They need to be tortured, Ms. Ame, not defeated." He reached into his desk and pulled out the charred remains of some small machine. "This will bring them torture. We will combine your technology with mine, Ms. Ame, then I will regain my morphers and give them to people more deserving of their powers."

"Can a Dark Gem be combined with a PKM morpher?" asked Ame.

"Oh, dear lady," said Charon, as he widened his grin. "All things are possible if you're willing to jam things in hard enough. Besides, it is absolutely necessary that we bring this morpher back up to code. The rangers won't know what hit them when they get a look of me in this little suit."

"What is it?"

Charon caressed the surface. "A prototype, from before we used ranger spirits. More specifically, this is the Master Ranger morpher, owned and operated by the late Bakaguru Niwa, also known as the mentor of our little batch of renegades."

"Bakaguru Niwa," said Ame. "I am afraid I am unfamiliar with most of his records."

Charon waved his hand. "It doesn't matter. He's an insect in the grand scheme of things. His story was that he died uselessly before his friends could come and save him." Charon held out his hand, and Ame deposited the Dark Ruby into his palm. Charon gripped the Master Morpher in his other hand. "And now I'm going to destroy what remains of his legacy so his name never haunts my door again!"

The room suddenly filled with laughter, and Charon and Ame immediately began work on their little project.

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It took some time before 0 was ready for an international flight.

Regardless of the fact that the transformation shouldn't have taken more than a button press to activate after the first success, the simple fact of the matter was that it was weeks before he could bring his entire body over voluntarily. Sometimes a piece would get left behind, such as his head, so he would end up with a regular body and a helmet firmly clamped on.

Today marked the second week of consecutive successes. As long as he was calm and had little to distract him from maintaining the shape of his body, he was fully able to reconstruct his physical shape from the infrared particles inside his suit.

"Dad!" shouted Sarah when she saw him reemerge from the Gold Ranger shell, and proceeded to show her glee by tackling him. He grabbed her and positioned her sturdily in his arms.

"Hey," he said. "Not missing anything, am I?"

"The trials continue to be successful," said 415. "You now appear to have a maximum time of two hours before you will be forcibly reverted back to the infrared body."

"I have the timer on me," said May. "It'll go off when we have ten minutes on the clock, so he can find somewhere discreet to change back, recharge, and come back out for another two hours."

"Very good. Remember, the slightest undue stress will also cause him to forcibly revert back, so ensure he remains calm throughout the flight."

"You sure we can't just teleport him?" asked Serena. "This whole thing would be a cinch if we could just warp them all to Pallet Town."

415 shook her head. "Impossible. The limited range scarcely allows us to reach Goldenrod. Were we to try a trip to Kanto, chances would be good they would die."

"Why's that?" asked 0.

"The teleporter transfers the atoms that constitute the body from one location to another. Actual teleporters that are used for transferring Pokemon and equipment are actually part of a relay system that make shorter jumps over a longer distance to ensure safety. Because we want no one gaining unauthorized access to our teleporter, it operates at a different frequency and cannot connect to that system. Such is the price for security. Were we to attempt a jump to Kanto, the atoms that form up your bodies would break down and scatter due to the increased distance."

"Gotcha. We go with the plane," said 0.

"You guys had better get a move on," said Serena. "You lollygag here any longer and you'll miss your flight."

"Now, you're sure you can handle city defenses on your own?" asked 0.

"Yes, Dad," said Serena. "I'm absolutely sure. Jenny's been made aware our heavy hitter's going to be out of town, but I'm pretty sure I can keep the city under control for a few days. Plus, I've got Max and 415 here as backup, not to mention our new Pokemon support system." Serena grinned at Darmanitan and Elgyem, both of whom were busy recalibrating the computer system. "And Brock will have plenty of company."

"At some point we're going to have a conversation about me getting some fresh air!" shouted Brock from his bed. "I haven't seen the outside of this hospital bed in weeks." Chansey glared at him, and he shrank back into the bed sheets.

"Your prosthetics are being completed on schedule," said 415. "We should be ready to begin amputation and application within a fortnight."

"Oh yeah…amputation. Great." Brock relaxed himself on the bed and tried to think about something else.

"Take care of yourself," said 0. "We'll be back in a flash."

"Have a safe trip," he said.

0 stepped onto the teleporter with May and Sarah. Each one was holding a piece of luggage, enough for a week-long trip. 0 turned to Elgyem. "Ready to test out the civilian teleport system?" he asked.

"_Gyem em_," it said eagerly.

0 bent down to adjust Sarah's coat. "You have your receiver, little girl?"

She nodded and produced a small transmitter the size and shape of a Poke Ball. "Yes, Dad," she said, in a tone that made it seem as though 0 had already asked her the question ten times already.

"Me too," said May with a smile and produced a transmitter of her own.

0 grinned. "Well let's get to it. Elgyem, transport us somewhere discreet."

Elgyem nodded and fired up the machine. There was a bit of discomfort, almost queasiness, then suddenly 0 found himself staring at a concrete wall.

They were just outside the airport, out of the line of sight of the security cameras and the security agents on duty. 0 looked around, both his wife and daughter had made the trip safely.

"Everyone alright?" he asked.

May nodded. "A little nauseous, but I think that's morning sickness."

"I'm fine too!" said Sarah.

"Excellent." 0 had been worried about May, but nothing had happened. She looked safe and healthy, and the little bulge on her stomach looked safe too. "We could have just taken a cab. You are three months pregnant."

"Nonsense," she said and touched her belly. "We're perfectly fine. Come on, we have to go check in." May reached out and took Sarah by the hand. "Come on, little girl. Dad can grab the bags." She stuck her tongue at him and led Sarah inside the airport.

"Hey, wait up!" he shouted as he slung her carryon over his shoulder and gripped the other two bags. "Geez, excuse me for being concerned."

Pi was laughing in his head. "Way to go, Superdad."

"I see nothing wrong with wanting my wife and unborn child safe," said 0.

"True, but you could tune it down a little. Remember, too much stress, no more human body."

"Thanks, I'll keep it in mind." He caught up with May and Sarah just as they had gotten in line at the ticket counter.

"Everything alright?" asked May with a sweet smile.

"Very much so," he said, then turned to Sarah. "So, you remember how to behave on an airplane?"

Sarah nodded. "No messing around with my seat, no bothering other people, no screaming."

0 nodded. "That's my brave little girl. I'm sure they'll have a movie or something for you to watch." Sarah seemed to be quite content to hear that, and began busying herself by looking around. "What're you doing?"

"Looking for suspicious people," she said seriously. After a few moments she turned around satisfied. "No Dark Gems, but I'll keep my eyes open, Dad."

He smiled. "Sounds good, kiddo."

"Do you ever wonder if we shouldn't have taught Sarah all these anti-terrorism techniques?" asked May as an afterthought.

"To be fair, I'm sure they'll come in handy when she starts dating."

"Oh, that's coming up soon," said May. "She'll probably be dating in ten years." She lowered herself to adjust Sarah's jacket. "Are there any cute boys that have caught your eye, little girl?"

"And what are their addresses?" asked 0 as he cracked his knuckles.

Sarah made a disgusted face. "Ew, Mom. Boys are gross. They keep picking their noses around me. And they smell bad."

"That's my girl," said 0.

"Sweetie, you know she's going to start dating someday."

"Absolutely," said 0. "When she's thirty."

They approached the ticket counter and the subject suddenly became moot. May produced their tickets and the inspector checked their two suitcases. 0 kept the backpack as they stepped towards the scanners.

"Uh," said 0. "I think we forgot something."

May turned to him. "What?"

"How do I get my morpher passed security?" he asked. "It doesn't exactly come off."

"That is a good question," said May. "Just tell them it's broken and you can't get it off. It looks enough like a watch that they won't be bothered with it."

0 nodded. "Good idea."

May's plan worked. When it came time for 0 to get through the scanner, it beeped once and they asked him to remove the morpher. 0 used May's explanation, so they just patted him down and sent him on his way.

"There's something funny about watching male security guards pat you down," said May.

"Didn't think you'd be into that," said 0.

She shrugged. "Just nice to see my man being worked over in a way that doesn't end up with him as a pulp."

"What're you guys talking about?" chirped Sarah.

"Nothing!" they both shouted.

They reached the gate terminal just as boarding commenced. "Well, this is all moving very smoothly," said 0.

"Now you've jinxed it," said May. "We're never leaving the airport."

May was quite incorrect. The family jumped right to the front, considering they had first class tickets, and were seated in next to no time. 0 positioned the backpack in the storage unit above their seats while May began the entertaining process of getting Sarah's seatbelt on her.

"Baby girl, you need to sit still," said May.

"But look! Look!" she said, pointing to her window. "I get a view! I'll be able to see the clouds!"

"True, but you need the seatbelt on," said May. "If you're not wearing the seatbelt, they won't take off and you won't be able to see the clouds." This instantly changed Sarah's mind about the seatbelt. She sat still at once and allowed her mother to fasten her in. May secured her own seatbelt just as 0 sat down.

A stewardess was heading in his direction and he signaled her down. "Could I please get a hamburger and a cola?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'll be sure to get that to you once we take off, sir," she replied. "Would you like anything on it?"

"Cheese, beef, and ketchup please."

"Can do." She headed off and 0 turned to May, who had an odd look on her face.

"What?" he asked.

"You're going to eat airplane food?" she asked.

Sarah made a face. "Yuck! That's why we bought the jerky, Dad."

He chuckled. "To be fair, I haven't had a meal in five years. I'm sure it'll taste just fine."

A voice began speaking on the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. If you would please secure your luggage, fasten your seatbelts, and recall any Pokemon you might be carrying with you, we will begin takeoff procedures."

0 waited while the airplane attendant demonstrated the proper methods of securing seatbelts, attaching air masks to children, and other things he was sure he would have no need for. In the event of an emergency, he fully to rip out an emergency door and fly his family to safety in Chariard Form. But he paid attention, insofar as he didn't fall asleep in boredom, and eventually the plane shifted itself towards the runway and took off.

Maybe thirty minutes into the flight, the stewardess returned with the gourmet burger and a crisp, chilled cola. She set it before 0 with a smile.

"Will that be all, sir?" she asked.

He nodded. "Thank you. I'll let you know if I want more later." She bowed her head and departed.

0 grabbed the two sides of the burger and lifted it to his face. It smelt delicious. He could smell the juicy, warm beef, cooked medium well if he wasn't mistaken, and the sweet scent of ketchup that had been drizzled onto the bottom bun. Soft, melted cheese adorned the top of the burger, and he very delicately took a bite into the sandwich.

"How's your first meal?" asked May.

He turned towards her with a smile. "This may be the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. I may have to have five of these."

"I've never heard someone so enthusiastic about airplane food," said May.

"To be fair, we are in first class," 0 pointed out. "I'm pretty sure I won't be as excited when they show up with the soggy sandwiches." He then returned his attention to the cheeseburger with the gusto and fortitude of a Snorlax approaching starvation.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"Your diagnosis is complete."

Max demorphed. The process had become a much more fluid, graceful art, primarily because of how his mind remained during his transformation. Previously, his transformations included the light cloud that would merge his consciousness with that of the Dark Emerald, but now the only difference he noticed was an increase in sheer power.

"I'm still not used to being alone in my head," said Max.

"The diagnostic explains that. Here." 415 brought up a brain scan the equipment had taken of Max while morphed. "See these centers here?"

"Yeah," said Max.

"Those represent active consciousness or, rather, your functioning consciousness during the transformation. Unlike a normal human, your unconscious mind does not appear to exist. There are no unconscious decisions being made by you. All activity in the brain is focused towards your conscious self."

"Alright. But don't I need some unconscious reactions?"

"I was getting to that. There is unconscious activity stimulating pieces of your brain, but it is not originating from you. Instead, an outside source has supplemented your unconscious material, allowing your entire mental capacity to focus on conscious decisions. I believe this is where the consciousness of the Dark Emerald is being stored. It still exists, but your unconscious mind is not interacting with your conscious mind and thus you do not recognize the Dark Emerald is still in there."

"Huh." Max looked at the brain scan and smiled. "Well, good. I'm glad it's still in there, even if I can't hear it."

"In reality, it should have been foreseen. Previously, your mind was supplemented to the subconscious while the Dark Emerald utilize your conscious mind. It is logical that the inverse might occur upon evolution. Perhaps the relationship will change again upon your final evolution."

"I hope not," said Max. "Every other Dark Gem we've come across in Shattered Form has been a total nut job. That's why I was so worried when I first thought I might be evolving. Now that everything's normal, I just want to stay that way for as long as humanly possible."

"Well, remember my offer still stands to kill you once you become a liability," she said.

"Duly noted," said Max. "I'll try not to become a liability."

"It would be unadvisable."

Someone coughed, and both Max and 415 straightened up as Serena wandered in Ranger Downs. "Heyo, everyone. How'd the tests turn out?"

"Tests indicate the Dark Emerald is operating within parameters," said 415. "I will continue his weekly monitoring until we are certain he is completely stable."

"Love it," said Serena. "Max, why don't you head out on patrol tonight? I'm beat, and we can't very well keep you stuck inside here forever."

"We should continue testing to ensure—"

"I'm making an executive decision," said Serena. "Besides, when 0's not around I'm in charge, right? Well, I say he goes out and gets his feet wet again. It's better for him to adjust to the changes in some actual patrol duty instead of sitting around in a lab."

Max nodded. "I can do that. I'll go ahead and head out with one of the motorcycles."

Serena waved her hand. "We can probably fit you on the teleporter. Why don't we give that a shot?"

Again, 415 interrupted. "We do not know the effect the teleporter may have on his physiology. I request time to continue my research before we place the Dark Gem under duress."

"Overruled," said Serena. "Elgyem, beam our Dark Emerald Ranger into Goldenrod."

Elgyem nodded and began charging up the system.

"Uh, you sure about this?" asked Max. "I have no problems waiting for that research data to come in before using this."

"We were able to teleport two civilians with no Ailed Morphers today," said Serena. "I think the system can handle a little Dark Gem. Just take a receiver for good luck." She tossed him the Poke Ball-shaped apparatus and gave Elgyem the signal. Max vanished instantly.

"_Gyem, elgyem_," it announced, confirming the success.

"You should have waited for my confirmation," said 415. "It could have endangered our Dark Gem specimen."

"Yeah, about that," said Serena, as she approached 415. "Is there any particular reason your attitude towards Max has changed in the last couple of weeks?"

"My attitude towards him has remained the same since the moment I met him," replied 415.

"So you've always been in love with him? All that verbal abuse was a fancy cover for your affections?"

415 did not verbally respond, nor did her mask reveal any sort of blush that might give away her true feelings, but even Serena noticed when 415's throat tightened for just a millisecond before it faded away. Had she not been looking for it, Serena would have never have spotted it.

"What are you staring at?" asked 415.

"You twitched your neck. You're afraid," said Serena.

"Absurd. I have long since trained out emotional responses, particularly emotional responses that have no purpose," said 415.

"Then why are you being so friendly with Max? You were practically concerned with his well-being right there. Why do you think I was so adamant about it?"

"I…" 415 took a breath. "I am obligated. He rescued me and evolved to save my life. Under ordinary circumstances, it would be ignored, but the Dark Gem and I talked prior to his evolution."

"Ooh? About what?" Serena pulled up a chair and invited 415 to join her.

415 sat down. "The Dark Gem expressed his fear of evolution. He had noticed how the Dark Sapphire Ranger changed upon evolution and naturally concluded that evolution destabilizes the mind linked to the Dark Gem further. Though we have had few problems after acquiring the Dark Emerald Ranger from the Dark Gems, it is also unknown whether the Dark Emerald will affect him as other Dark Gems have affected users. He did not wish to change. He was adamant about this belief. He should not have evolved during the battle with the Dark Diamond Ranger. He should have remained in Chained Form."

"Instead he evolved," said Serena. "So you're wondering why he evolved when you don't think he wanted to?"

415 nodded. "There is no explanation. Why would a person deliberately act against their own self-interest? The Dark Gem risked his life and sanity on the hunch that he would obtain enough power to hold the Dark Diamond Ranger at bay. Ranger Gold and yourself were on standby. Why did he then evolve?"

Serena rolled her eyes. "Geez, you're even more clueless than the men around here. Have you considered the possibility that he might be in love with you, and love makes people do stupid things?" Under her breath, she muttered, "Like fall in love with you."

415 nodded. "I considered that possibility. I informed him in no uncertain terms that I am simply not built with such capacities."

"You sound like a robot," said Serena. "Look, you loved the old Golden Ranger, right?"

"Not in such a fashion, but yes."

"Why was that?"

"The Golden Ranger rescued me as a child."

"Go on."

"I was a child in a military zone," she replied. "I was recovered by the Golden Ranger sometime between my second and third birthday. I was his daughter. There are no records of my family prior to my recovery by PKM, only that the Golden Ranger rescued me from the likelihood of becoming a child soldier, or worse, as I grew up."

"Okay, so he rescued you. You ever think that might be what's going on here?"

"What?"

Serena sighed. "Do I have to spell out every single bit of romantic advice in this family? Look, you loved the Golden Ranger because he rescued you as a child, right?"

"Correct."

"Well, isn't it possible that because it's been over two years since he died you're just transferring those feelings towards someone else? Someone you don't view as a father? Someone who, by sheer coincidence, also just happened to rescue you and cause this shift in personality I've been noticing over the past few weeks? Do I really need to keep connecting the dots, or do you get it yet?"

415 considered the evidence. "What you say is not without merit," she agreed. "True, he did save me and, true, so did the Golden Ranger. It is natural the emotions would correlate. Yet, if this emotional attachment is taking place, there has been no rapid increase in emotion. Upon reflection, my attitude towards the Dark Gem remains unchanged."

"There could be an answer for that," said Serena. "You might just have always been in love with him and subconsciously hidden it."

"Impossible."

"Is it? You've spent all the time Max has been with us belittling him because he's a Dark Gem Ranger instead of one of us. You try to kill him over and over again, you insulted him, you did everything to make him feel unwelcome. Couldn't that have just been a mask? Goodness knows May and I thought so."

"You did?"

Serena nodded. "Yeah. Classic move, really, pushing away a guy you really like. Can't tell you how many times I've done it. Just makes the guy want you more. We figured that's what you were doing, because we seriously wondered why you would torment the guy like that."

"Because he is a Dark Gem, and thus an inferior range—"

"That needs to stop," said Serena. "You're really not fooling anyone, so there's no point in putting him down anymore. You like him. He probably likes you. Get over yourself and do him."

415 hesitated. "'Do' him?"

Serena rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to have to draw you a diagram or something, am I? I just finished explaining your attraction to him, I really don't want to explain what to do with those feelings."

415 shook her head. "There will be no need. However, I disagree with your final diagnosis."

"That's not my problem. You want to ignore your feelings, fine. But, and I can say this from experience, you want him bad, girl. You want him real bad. I'd even say he's probably the first person you've ever wanted and that's why all of this is confusing to you."

415 had nothing to say to that. She sat in her chair for a while and considered everything. Serena watched as the blank slate that was her mask began to shift. Her brows arched as she thought, her eyes stared directly into a small space on the floor, and her hands slowly began clenching into tightened fists. When she looked up, Serena saw an expression she had never seen all across 415's face.

She was confused.

"I…I do not understand," she said. "Everything you said makes perfect logical sense. But I do not understand how to utilize these emotions that are surfacing. What are they? How do I handle them? I…was not trained for this."

"Nobody really is. Don't worry too much about it. You'll get the hang of using them. Or you'll kill Max. But I'm betting you'll get the hang of it. Max is hard to kill."

"He is," said 415 warmly. "I have tried on numerous occasions."

"There you go, speaking fondly of him. Next thing you know you'll be ready to have his little Dark Gem babies. Or at least actually say his name."

"Perhaps May Birch would be more suitable to assist me in this self-analysis," said 415. "After all, she is the only one of us with a husband."

"No way," said Serena. "Us single girls have to stick together."

"I am unfamiliar with that vernacular," said 415.

"Well, it's good to know you're not changing that much," said Serena. "Now let's talk strategy before Max gets back!"

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Obtaining a cab at the airport proved to be much more difficult than originally believed.

After the brief layover in the Kanto International Airport, 0, May, and Sarah boarded a small, rickety plane that 0 scarcely fit in for a short two hour flight that was a far cry from the first class service they'd enjoyed on the flight from Johto. When they got out at the Pallet Town Regional Airport, all of the cabs seemed to have mysteriously vanished. 0 spent ten minutes waiting outside in the rain before May found out the reason for the delay.

"There's a strike," she said and held up a newspaper she had purchased at the concession stand. "All the public transport is out. The only people working are the airlines."

"Great," said 0. "Guess we'll rent a car, then. I think I have a driver's license I haven't used." He consulted his pockets and came up with one of his fake identities. "I think this ought to handle it."

May looked at the same. "Sherman Marsh? Where do you pick these names?"

"I just picked random names out of a hat," he explained. "Much harder to trace names picked based on chance. You stick out like a sore thumb if you deliberately pick inconspicuous names."

"Like Walter Jones?"

"Sort of, yeah. Jones or Smith always makes you seem suspicious." He turned to Sarah. "Come on, kiddo! Dad's driving!"

Sarah had been in the magazine kiosk looking around for some kid's magazine. She immediately dropped what she was doing and ran back to her parents. "What's Dad's name this time?" she asked.

"Sherman Marsh," said May.

Sarah made a face. "That's a dumb name, Dad."

"That's the idea. Cool names can get you in trouble."

Compared to the time 0 spent waiting for a cab, it took considerably less time to rent a car. He let Sarah pick the car, as they all seemed to look the same to him, and she settled on a giant caravan with a DVD player for the backseats. 0 just smiled and signed the paperwork, and soon he and his family rolled off the rental lot in the giant vehicle.

"This thing is huge," he muttered. "The turning radius is all wrong." He instantly wished he could have fit his entire family onto the 0 Cycle.

"It's awesome!" exclaimed Sarah. "I can watch all my shows!" She immediately dug through her backpack and retrieved some DVDs. "Play this please." She handed the first DVD to May, who showed 0 the title: _My Little Ponyta_.

"Guess she's mostly normal," said 0. "Though I don't know why Brock likes it."

"Oh hush," said May. "I think it's adorable that she and Brock watch it together every week." She popped the DVD in and it started playing behind them. 0 focused his attention on the road as they approached the Pallet Town city limits.

"They've really modernized this place since I was a kid," said 0. "I remember that road over there used to be dirt. There used to be a fishing hole over there."

"There hasn't been that much changed," said May. "Pallet's one of the few towns to keep their local landmarks."

"I suppose so, but it's just weird seeing all these changes." They were getting close to the laboratory. "We're almost there."

"Are we going to get to see all of Dad's Pokemon?" asked Sarah.

0 nodded. "Most of them. A couple of them are still training around the world, like Z was. I can still call them, I used Z all the times for PKM missions, but most of them will be at this lab. When I got back from Unova I had all my Pokemon at Juniper's lab brought back here with me."

"How long has it been since you've seen them?"

"A long time. I still pay a fee for Oak to board them, but I haven't visited Pallet for years. I'm too easily recognized in my hometown." He parked the car in the small lot in front of the building. "They should be in. I contacted them via e-mail to let them know someone would be stopping by to check the place out for Pokemon storage."

He stepped out of the car. "Coming?" he asked with a smile and shut the door.

He would be lying if he said he was not nervous as he approached the door to the Pokemon Laboratory. He remembered how, two decades ago, he had walked through those doors with Samuel Oak and received the greatest friend he had ever known. He remembered being shocked, repeatedly, over the early course of their meeting. He remembered the parade of people that had gathered to wish him luck on his journey. He remembered wearing rubber gloves on his way out of town.

He opened the door again, and found one of his oldest friends waiting on the other side.

He didn't recognize 0, not at first. He approached 0 casually, loosely wearing his white lab coat as he always did, and shook his hand. It wasn't until 0 said, "Gary," that it dawned upon Gary Oak who exactly was standing before him.

"You…" he whispered. "I haven't—we haven't. When did you come back to life?"

0 smiled. "It's good to see you too," he said. "You're right, I haven't been around much lately. I trust my Pokemon are alright?"

Gary nodded. "Yeah, yeah." He looked around 0. "May? May, is that you?"

May nodded and approached Gary to give him a light hug. "In the flesh."

Gary then looked down at little Sarah. "And this must be little Sandra—no, Sarah, right? Geez, I haven't seen her in person since she was a baby. She's so big."

"Of course I'm big," said Sarah. "I'm seven."

Gary chuckled. "How about that? Come see me in three years, I'll give you a Pokemon to make up for the weakling my grandfather gave your dad. Speaking of, where is Pikachu?"

0 paused. "They wouldn't let it on the plane. Some sort of new rule about putting Pokemon into Poke Balls before takeoff, even Pokemon that won't be a bother. It just didn't want to go back in, so it's grounded back home."

"Of course, I remember that. I'm thinking about writing a paper about Pokemon claustrophobia discussing possible treatments so adverse Pokemon can at least temporarily handle the Poke Ball without triggering some sort of panic attack."

"Gary," said 0. "I don't mean to interrupt your train of thought, but we're not really here for a social call."

Gary nodded. "What can I do for you? Got a new Pokemon to drop off?"

0 shook his head. "I'm actually here to pick up some Pokemon. I have two slots free."

"Sure. Want to take a walk, see everyone?"

"Sounds good. I don't think Sarah has seen too many of my Pokemon."

"Woo! Let's go!" shouted Sarah, who immediately tore out of the lab and in the direction of the Pokemon fields. May followed her daughter outside, leaving Gary and 0 standing in the laboratory's atrium.

"Where's Tracey?" asked 0.

"At a conference in Sinnoh," explained Gary. "Had we known you were coming, he might have stayed just to see you."

"Sorry about that," said 0. "There were a couple of reasons for that. I can't get into too much detail."

"Haven't seen you on the news, either. I think you were last reported in Orre living as a recluse."

"I'm in a different field now," said 0. "Private security."

"Huh. Glad to see you got your family back. The paparazzi were reporting on that for months. I think I even got interviewed for it. It was weird. I was doing some doctoral work and a giant camera crew broke into my lab. Had to redo the whole experiment."

"You know," said 0, "you still talk too much."

"And you're still a blockhead, but we live with what we've got. Come on, let's see your Pokemon."

The two men strolled down to the fields. Instantly, 0 felt like he was ten years old again, visiting his old friends before the start of a brand new adventure. He remembered the time he came home and his Taurus herd broke loose of their fence, and the time he and his friends had spent rebuilding that fence. He remembered checking in on them every week when he was away. He remembered so much, in fact, that he almost didn't notice when one of his very first Pokemon strode out in front of him.

The Bulbasaur was enormous, almost as big as a Venusaur. It lumbered over in 0's direction with a look of confusion on its face, as though it could place 0 but couldn't quite remember where from. 0 smiled, and purposely spoke in his natural voice as he had with Gary.

"You look a lot bigger than you did when we first met in that forest, Bulbs," said 0.

Its eyes widened. "_B-Bulba_?" it asked.

0 nodded. "_Saur_," he replied.

0 wasn't able to say much more. Bulbs jumped up and tackled him to the ground, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Bulbs buried its head into its trainer's chest, sobbing hysterically, almost like Tork would. 0 laughed and patted Bulbs on the head.

"This one missed you a lot," said Gary. "It was really peeved when you had me ship over Tork."

"That right?" asked 0. He turned to the Pokemon and grinned. "_Saur, bulbasaur_." Bulbs immediately recomposed itself, just in time for Sarah to pounce on it with a Heracross.

"_Cross_!" it said with glee as it began to sap nectar. It turned to 0 and made a happy noise.

"What's it saying, Dad?" asked Sarah.

"It's thanking me for distracting Bulbs. Ever since Bulbs got this big, Cross has had a hard time sapping nectar from it. _Cross, hera_."

Bulbs groaned, grabbed Cross with two vines, and tossed it into an adjacent tree. It readjusted itself and looked embarrassed.

"Well, which ones were you looking to take with you?" asked Gary.

"Well, actually I'm looking for Serp and Noct," said 0. "Do you know where they might be?"

Bulbs nodded and started heading off on a path east. "_Bulba bulbasaur_," it said. The others accepted its invitation to follow it along the path towards a forest section. Sarah merrily strolled around and played with Cross, while 0 and Gary caught up.

"So how's it been the last couple of years?" asked 0.

Gary shrugged. "It's been alright. Ever since Gramps passed, though, I've been giving more and more thought about whether I'm doing right by him. I'm getting better at running everything, and Tracey's been a big help with the transition, but it's still hard to get up sometimes and work in the same labs I used to work in with him."

"I think I went on a week-long bender when I heard about it," said 0. "It was after May and I separated, and I didn't get the chance to come back for the funeral. Pi and I just sat around and drank our way through a liquor store." He gripped Gary on the shoulder and smile. "Cheer up, though. Professor Oak would be proud if he could see us today."

"Who's Professor Oak?" asked Sarah.

"He…" 0 chuckled. "He was the professor in Pallet before Gary here. Great guy, he gave Pokemon out to most of the new trainers in Kanto. You got to pick a Bulbasaur, a Charmander, or a Squirtle."

"But I thought you started out with Pi, Dad."

0 nodded. "I did. I woke up late and Pi was the last Pokemon there. I seem to recall Gary got the Squirtle just before I got there."

"I remember that," said Gary. "You were still wearing your pajamas."

"And you had a sports car and a trail of cheerleaders. How did you get a license at ten?"

Gary grinned and shrugged. "Having a famous grandfather has its perks. We were both dumb when we were kids."

"Dad was dumb?" asked Sarah.

"The dumbest," Gary immediately quipped. "But he's not so bad now."

"Gee, thanks," said 0. "Are we there yet?"

"It's your Pokemon, why don't you ask it?" Gary looked around for a moment. "We are near Gramps, though."

0 paused. "Mind if we visit?" he asked.

Gary shrugged. "Sure. It's quiet enough. Why not let Bulbs know that's where we'll meet it with Serp and Noct."

"Good idea," said 0. "_Bulba bulba bulb_?"

It nodded and took off running. Gary showed them the way to a small grove in the middle of the forest, a small, quaint meadow shaded by the trees. Sitting in the middle was a small stone grave with a beautiful garden cultivated around it.

"The Grass Pokemon did a good job," said 0.

Gary nodded. "I was surveying in the forest a few years back and it was just here. It's actually gotten bigger over the years."

The piece of black marble was simple and unadorned. There was no bust of Oak's head looking out at them, no intricate shape or pattern carved on the surface. Instead, a small inscription was on the top, so small that they had to walk down a small path between the garden to read it.

SAMUEL OAK

PROFESSOR, MENTOR, FRIEND

"I'VE SENT MANY ON THEIR FIRST STEPS INTO THE WORLD

I'M SURE THEY'LL KEEP ON WALKING JUST FINE."

"Modest," said 0. Suddenly, his heart felt quite heavy. "Even dead, he still knows how to give a pep talk."

Gary nodded. "He said that at a conference just before he died. I told him not to go, because at that point he was getting around in the wheelchair, but he insisted on one last lecture to the community. He talked about how what we do only matters if it can keep going after us. Nobody liked the lecture, nobody wanted to think about the fact that he was almost gone. He ended with those words. He looked at me and said, 'There's my grandson, Gary. He's following in my footsteps on his own. He gives out Kanto's starters to new trainers, just as I did when I gave him his first Pokemon'." Gary paused, taking a few deep breaths before continuing. "He didn't want anyone to be sad when he left, because the future would be fine without him."

Sarah looked at the grave, and then at her father. "He was a good guy, huh Dad?"

0 nodded. "Sure was. One of the best I ever knew."

"_Saur_." 0 turned around upon hearing Bulbs' voice. It stood just a little ways away from them, flanked by a long green snake and a small golden owl.

Serp just cooed, twisting its head around to make sure it was seeing properly. There was no need for Noct to do so, it merely tilted its head to one side and widened its eyes with glee. After it was certain, Serp decided to greet its trainer with an overjoyed cry that was entirely out of character for it. It slid forward and curled up around 0, lightly squeezing him in a greeting.

"Dad, careful!" shouted Sarah.

0 chuckled. "No need to worry, Sarah, that's just Serp's way of saying hello." He turned to Serp and cooed something. Serp immediately released 0 and slid up next to Sarah, who flinched briefly but then calmed down enough to touch Serp's coat.

"It's so smooth!" she said with glee.

Noct, seeing that Serp had released 0, flapped its wings and fluttered over to land on 0's shoulder. It gently gripped 0's collar with its talons and chirped a hearty greeting. 0 helped Noct preen its feathers.

"_Bulbasaur_," said Bulbs with a low head.

Noct flew to the ground as 0 bent down to pat Bulbs on the head again. "_Bulba, bulbasaur saur bulba. Bulba bulba, bulbasaur. Saur_?"

His words did seem to cheer Bulbs up, though it was still sad to know it wasn't going with its trainer. It took the pat on its head with grace and resumed wearing its usual grin.

Gary took two Poke Balls out of his coat pocket. "Here you go. These were just registered to you, they'll work with all your Pokemon."

0 took them and recalled both Serp and Noct. "And that makes six. Thank you, Gary. For everything."

Gary nodded. "Just don't be a stranger. Come around more often. Go see your mother. She still stops by once in a while to see your Pokemon."

"We'll see," said 0. "I still have a lot to—wait. Sarah, where's your mother?"

"Huh?" asked Sarah. "Oh. Oh, she tried to catch up with me but I gave her the slip with Cross. Not sure where she is."

"Oh. Well, we should probably find her before we head out. Gary, you think you can keep a secret? Kind of on a schedule here, and we took a big detour."

"What kind of secret?"

"Well," 0 hesitated, unsure of what might happen if he told Gary what was going on. "Well, I live near Goldenrod. You watch the news recently about Goldenrod?"

"Something about superheroes. Didn't really pay attention to it, I was knee deep in Pidgey migration patterns. Why?"

0 raised his arm and checked his morpher. He had maybe a minute left, maybe less. "Might as well use this and test out the new gear that'll come with it." He pressed the button and instantly reverted back to his Ranger Gold form.

"Whoa!" Gary backed up as the glowing died down. "Whoa, that's new. That's really, really new. What is that?"

"Ranger technology," 0 explained. "We sort of inherited it. Hang on." He reached for one of the now-five Poke Balls that were clipped to his belt, one that was solid gold. He inserted it into the Ailed Morpher.

"_Auxiliary Pokemon System activated- Towl Form registered_," said the voice. "_Tracker Lenses- installed_."

His mind changed again, this time he felt himself reminiscent of Lu. He felt cheeky and mischievous, but there was a sharpness to it, a blade of cunning that was amplifying his intelligence. The armor did not appear along his body. Instead, his helmet warped in shape, changing from a circular oval and adding bits and pieces of what appeared to be armor based on a Noctowl's face. Metallic brows adorned the sides of his head. The top of his helmet was higher and rounder. Golden veins connecting the additional armor to his body ran down his neck.

And he could see! The visor had been amplified to such an extent that he could see each individual blade of grass and every leaf on every tree. He could see for miles in any direction, there appeared to be mirrors in the visor that allowed him to look behind himself without having to turn. He had no blind spot.

"Still can't see her," said 0. "Switch to something else to track her."

His visual spectrum instantly changed. He could see in heat vision again, something he thought had been removed from the system during the upgrade to the Ailed Morpher. He could see through the trees and through the streams and eventually his ability to perfectly capture the detail of his surroundings led him to her. He pointed to a position south of their location.

"She's looking for us there. Let's go," he said, as he led the way through the forest with a dumbfounded Gary and a playful Sarah in tow.

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When Max returned home, it was to what appeared to be an empty house. The kitchen was empty, and no dinner was on the table, so Max set about the task of making himself a sandwich. He piled on the meats and cheeses in an effort to satisfy the hunger he'd cultivated during his time out on patrol. He set the massive sandwich on a plate then made his way through the home looking for everyone.

"Was there some sort of emergency?" he wondered. "No, I'd have been called. I've got the com-link now and they can actually talk to me."

Where were they, then? They weren't in any of their bedrooms or anywhere else on the second floor, and the ground floor was just as empty as ever when he returned. He shrugged, about halfway through his sandwich, and decided perhaps the best approach would be to try Ranger Downs. He headed through the secret entrance and down the staircase.

Brock was still there, Max could hear that the television was on again. Brock was relaxing in his bed with Chansey and Swampert, so thoroughly engrossed with his program that he hardly noticed Max descending into Ranger Downs.

"Hey, Brock," said Max, before taking yet another bite out of his sandwich. Brock had Chansey pause the program and smiled.

"How was patrol?" he asked.

Max shrugged. "Fine. Dark Emerald's still quiet, so no Dark Gems in town."

"That's good."

"What're you up to?"

Brock stared at the television. "Trying desperately to distract myself from my surgeries. 415 said they'd be happening soon because Elgyem is apparently really good at designing prosthetics."

"You nervous?"

"A little. I've had my limbs for a while. Even if they are like this, it's a little hard to say goodbye to them. I've had them all my life."

"To be fair, you are getting nicer limbs to make up for that," said Max. "You'll never have to work out your biceps again."

Brock laughed. "Good idea. Think about the positives. Like permanent biceps."

Max finished his sandwich. "Well, I think I'll head to bed. Long day and all that. You know where the girls are?"

Brock shook his head. "I think they went out. Serena said they were going to go do some shopping."

"Alright. Get some rest, watch less TV."

As Max left, he heard Brock shout, "I'll shut off the TV when I can reach it!" As he ascended the stairs, he heard Brock chuckle to himself before the television turned back on.

When he returned to his room, Max changed from his casual clothes and into his sleeping gear, a plain green undershirt and dark sweatpants. He yawned and positioned his glasses by his bedside table. "You know, seeing as I'm a superhero and all, maybe it's time I made the switch to contacts. Be a pain if I broke my glasses before a fight." He briefly wondered if the Dark Emerald would simply heal his vision if that happened, then decided maybe he shouldn't rely on the Dark Emerald for everything. He shut off the light and got under his covers.

Max was unable to sleep, though. He immediately realized he wasn't alone in his own bed. It took every bit of his self-control to contain the Dark Emerald's shadow chains and remain untransformed. He slowly tilted his head to his left, unsure how he could have missed the fact that there was a woman in his bed. Not just any woman, either. 415 was lying there, deliberately staring at him.

"Hello," said Max cautiously. "Can I help you with anything?"

415 continued to stare at him, leading Max to suspect the very worst possibility: she was there to smash his Dark Gem and kill him for real. Why she had chosen this particular battleground was a little unclear. Maybe she had wanted a sneak attack, but then why would she have just sat there waiting for him to notice her? None of this was making sense.

"Dark Gem," she said at last. Max noticed something different in her tone. Usually, whenever 415 spoke, it was a mechanical speak that seemed to have been composed hours in advance. This time was different. She seemed hesitant, there was a crack in her voice. It almost sounded like a completely different person. "Dark Gem, we need to talk."

Max nodded, but made no other sudden movements. "Okay. What'd you want to talk about that could have happened when both of us were not in the same bed?"

"We need to talk about us," she said, but offered no further explanation.

"Mind clarifying that for me?" he asked. "As I recall, there is no 'us'. You were very clear about that, even if I wasn't hitting on you."

"It would appear that I have erred," she answered. "Serena Brine and I had a conversation. The topic was you."

"A conversation about what?"

"A topic of which I still understand very little. Serena Brine accused me of being infatuated with you. She presented numerous arguments I had not considered. At the end, I was forced to conclude she was correct. There has been a gradual shift in my attitude towards you."

"Well, yeah." Come to think of it, Max had noticed her seeming to get friendlier over the past couple of weeks, ever since he had evolved. "I just figured you were just studying me to make sure I wouldn't go berserk."

"My investigation has concluded. It is my opinion that there will be no issue on that front. I had intended to report several days ago but…I confess something stopped me from doing so."

"What? You've had me running tests today. What were those for?"

"Busy work. Stop interrupting me." She moved very, very quickly, as if she was entirely unsure of how to go about her movements and just wanted them over with, until she was several inches away from Max's face.

"I—" Max took a deep breath. "I'm really not sure what's going on here."

"I admit confusion as well. I am unaware of how this is…done. The technicalities are known to me, but theories are not much use in the practical world."

"Wait, hang on. Whoa!" 415 had moved the covers, and in that instant he had realized she wasn't wearing anything either. 415 usually wore full-body clothing. Turtlenecks, pants, long sleeve shirts, anything to disguise her body. He had never seen anything other than her hands before. "Wait. Wait. Nope, hang on. Hang on."

"Does this not please you?" she asked. There was an unusual tone in her voice he had never heard before. "Is this body not attractive?"

"I can't believe I'm having this conversation," Max muttered. "No, that's not it, 415. I'm just not that sort of guy. I like to do the whole romance thing."

"Illogical. My evidence suggests that men do not require such arbitrary prerequisites. They are much more willing to engage in carnal activities without them."

"Well, in the case on one night stands, yes," said Max. "But not with someone that I see every day. That's just not going to happen. If you want to date, we can date, but I'm not just going to give it up because you're in my bed and you're—"

415 once again got really close to his face, close enough that she could have bitten off his nose if she were so inclined. "Dark Gem" she said. "This is an ultimatum. I am taking what I want from you in an effort to determine the extent of my emotional response towards you. You may either comply willingly, or I can force your hand. There will be no difference from me."

Max gulped. "I take it that means there's no negotiating about this?"

"There will be none. I will assess the accuracy of Serena Brine's hypothesis with or without your consent."

"Well, I guess that settles the issue."

Max leaned over and, in the same manner that one might take with tasting a jalapeño, gently kissed 415 on the lips.

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After they had found May, 0 piled them back into the van for the trip to the hotel. But, after thanking Gary and driving off, he began to reconsider that plan and his mind led him to drive in the opposite direction of the city, towards one of the smaller suburban districts of Pallet Town.

"Uh, honey, where are we going?" asked May. She looked out the window. "I'm not sure the hotel is on this side of the town."

"It isn't," said 0. "We'll head there later. I want to make a quick stop first."

May wasn't sure where they were going until they made the next turn. Her eyes widened and she looked towards Sarah, who was in the back still enamored with the television. "Are you sure about this?" asked May. "I don't even think Sarah remembers who she is."

"It's not about Sarah," said 0. "It's about me. We managed to get your parents into the wind and keep them out of trouble. We never got to do the same for mine. I haven't heard anything around these parts, but I'm willing to bet that if we keep picking off their numbers the Dark Gems are going to get desperate. They might come after her. She deserves to be warned so she can get out before anything comes after her."

He pulled up to the driveway, the same driveway he hadn't seen for years. He had run up it so often, first when it was his home and then after returning from some foreign land, but she would always be at the other end by the door, waiting for him with a fresh meal and open ears to hear all about his adventures. He unblocked his seatbelt and stepped from the car.

"Keep her here," said 0. "I'll let you know when you can come in."

He approached the door and rapped thrice. It all seemed entirely too familiar, only now he was able to actually reach the top of the door. It creaked open, just like it used to when he was a child, and soon 0 found himself face to face with a small, petite woman with brown hair.

"Why hello there," she said with a smile. "I was beginning to worry you'd forgotten how to call me."

0 chuckled. "Sorry we were so late, Mom. Do you have enough dinner for three?"

His mother looked passed him, to the car where she saw Sarah and May waiting, and her smile widened. "Looks like I missed out on some stuff. Don't worry. I'm sure my Mimey can whip up a few extra places at the dinner table. Come on in."

Nodding vigorously, 0 grabbed his family from the car, and came home.


	37. Morph 37

**Author's Note:** Ah, hello all. I haven't posted in a few months, and the reasons for that are varied. Most of them have to do with school and work, and about a million other priorities I'm sure few of you care to hear me blab about over the Internet. Anyways, six years ago I posted this story on this website for the first time and, tonight, I present a New Year's present in the form of four inter-connecting chapters that will set the stage for the final arc of this saga, which will conclude next year. So here is the **first chapter** I will post tonight. Enjoy!

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**Morph Thirty-Seven: The Master's Revenge**

"The baby appears to be perfectly healthy."

415 waved the small wand over May's stomach, adjusting the image on the monitor to her liking, until the static-filled image cleared up and a video feed of a small little baby appeared. It seemed to be active, occasionally shifting its limbs around as if trying to get comfortable. "The child is currently three months away," said 415. "We will have to make arrangements to take you to the hospital for delivery. I do not have the necessary equipment to deliver the baby here and, even if I did, my technical skills as a health practitioner end well before the maternity ward."

0 nodded. "Alright. Which hospital would you recommend?"

415 shrugged. "I have not yet finished my consultation in that field. I am still examining floor plans from hospital blueprints around Goldenrod to assess the safest location for the child's birth."

"Good. When it comes we'll just use the teleporter, same as the trip to the airport. No problems at all." 0 kissed May's forehead. "Anything else we should be aware of?"

"No. The baby looks very healthy, despite some of the trauma suffered by the mother. All signs point to the baby having zero defects when it is born."

"Wonderful," said May.

"So," said Sarah, peeking up from the side of the table, "am I gonna have a little sister or brother? Can you tell yet? I wanna know."

"Sarah, we agreed that would be a surprise," said May. "Do you really want to spoil the surprise?"

"Yes," said Sarah bluntly. "I wanna know if my little sister and I are going to have awesome tea parties and ride Pokemon together, or if I'm going to have a stinky little brother that farts all the time."

"To be fair, Sarah," said 0, "I seem to distinctly recall you farting on me all the time when you were a baby."

Sarah turned bright red. "Gross, Dad! Don't just tell people that!"

May laughed. "I remember this one very vividly. We were sitting at a café and you somehow wriggled your way out of your diaper, and when I went to put it back on you peed all over the seat."

"Ugh! Stop embarrassing me!" Sarah flung her arms into the air and ran out of the room before May or 0 had the chance to tell another story from her infancy.

"If we could return to the analysis," said 415, after 0 and May had stopped their snickering, "are you certain that you do not wish to know the sex of the baby? At six months, it is quite simple."

May looked to 0. "Well? Do you want to?"

He nodded. "I know we said no, but I don't think I can wait another three months. We can keep it a secret from Sarah, though, since she doesn't seem to want a little brother."

"Very well," said 415. She maneuvered the wand once more, positioning it so that they could ascertain the gender of the baby.

"Is that—" said 0.

"Are we—" said May.

415 nodded. "It would appear so. You are having a boy."

0 pumped his fist. "Yes!" he shouted. He proceeded to jump up and down several times before he remembered he was the only one celebrating like that and calmed down. "Uh, I mean great. Good to hear."

May eyed him coyly. "I take it you wouldn't have reacted so positively if it was another girl?" she asked.

"Of course not! It's just…you know…I was really hoping for a boy this time. That way we have both."

"I'm only teasing," said May. "It's wonderful news. Just think, in three months we'll have ourselves a healthy baby boy. Ooh, we need to think up names."

"Should've asked Mom while we were in Kanto," said 0. "Our family usually recycles names."

"I recall. Sarah's name came from your side, didn't it?"

0 nodded. "Yeah, one of my great-grandmothers, I think. Mom suggested that one too." 0 consulted the morpher on his watch. "Hang on, I have to morph back." He pressed the button and reverted back to his ranger form.

"How long are the time outs now?" asked 415.

"They're still two hours," said 0. "Every time I try to stretch it passed that point I end up stuck longer. But if I morph back before the limit, it only takes me five minutes to recharge so I can reassume my regular body."

"Interesting," said 415. "Does it correlate to your current project?"

"No. The five-in-one combo's still got some kinks," said 0. "Pi and I can't seem to make much of a crack in it. That part's annoying."

"You'll get there," said May.

"I know I will. It's just that we went to Kanto for the sole reason of getting enough Pokemon to attempt the new form and it just hasn't been clicking in all these months. So far we've only worked out the core process for it."

"Which is?"

"The idea is to split the work. If we can pull it off, I'm channeling six different Pokemon, each one regulating a specific function. That makes the form possible, but we don't have the raw power to pull it off yet. Maybe if I went and hooked myself up directly into a power plant."

"That would likely be unfeasible in combat."

"Exactly. Hence why it's just a theory. But at least I get to keep my human body around longer. And I can eat and sleep now."

"Well," said 415, "my diagnosis is complete. Do either of you have further questions for me?"

"Can you pinpoint when the baby'll be due?" asked May.

"Yes," said 415. "You have three months, five days, assuming all goes according to plan. We can adjust for anything, but uninterrupted the baby should be ready for birth around that time."

"Wow," said May. "We really will need that name sooner rather than later."

"We'll start making a list," said 0.

"If that concludes your appointment," said 415, "I have another one scheduled. The Dark Gem and I are reviewing his progress once more. Your presence would distract from my research."

"Of course. Come, my lady." 0 gallantly assisted May off the examining table. "Be seeing you. 415, do you have patrol duty tonight?"

415 shook her head. "The Dark Gem is assigned."

"Good to know." He left, and briefly exchanged greetings with Max as the younger man entered the room.

"You are late," said 415. "Explain yourself."

"Sorry about that," said Max. "I had to spend an extra five minutes explaining to Sarah that the world isn't going to end if she winds up with a baby brother."

"Regardless, we must do tests."

"Yeah, sure. Tests. By the way, have you picked out the movie for tomorrow night?"

"Silence your voice," said 415 in a hushed, quick tone. "Do you want everyone to know?"

"I honestly don't think they'd care," said Max. "Anyway, the movie?"

415 shook her head. "I have not decided. The choices are all arbitrary."

"How is it arbitrary? It's a movie, just pick one."

"How am I supposed to choose? I do not watch movies, Dark Gem. I review research. You gave me a selection of six available movies that are opening this weekend. How am I supposed to know which one would be the least waste of time? Do I judge by length, or the plot synopsis, or the reviews made by biased journalists? There is no frame of reference."

"Well, why don't we just pick a comedy?"

"Comedy is subjective. There is nothing I find humorous."

"What about an action movie?"

415 glared at him. "After the life we lead? How is any sort of film supposed to compare with the combat we have experienced?"

"Geez, I don't know. Why not pick one at random?"

"And leave it to chance? There are no variables to be considered. What if we pick the wrong movie?"

"Then we'll make fun of the movie. Isn't the point that we're supposed to go on a date, not where the date is?"

"It is not. A first date location may set the tone for the entire relationship. It may establish a hierarchy or inside joke of some kind. Failure to select the correct venue for such an event could result in this entire experiment collapsing."

"It isn't an experiment. It's just a movie. We'll be fine if the movie isn't great, most of them aren't."

"Then why bother having movies?"

Max shrugged. "Because people like being around other people. I used to really like movies because I could get together with a bunch of friends and just spend some time hanging out in front of the screen sharing an experience, no matter if the experience was entertaining or boring. We would just make fun of the movie if it sucked and have a great time anyway."

"That is not logical."

"Most people aren't. I'm not. You're not."

"I am exceedingly logical."

"No, you're still struggling to work out your emotions for the first time. That's not something a logical human does as an adult. You still haven't called me by my name."

"You do not call me by a name."

"You don't have one. That's not a fair comparison. And your name isn't important. I know who you are. I don't need to know your name for that."

415 grew uncomfortable and shifted herself. "This discussion is getting us nowhere. Shall we concede a draw? I will make sure we have a venue tomorrow night."

Max smiled. "Sounds good. Now how about we do some tests?"

At the mention of tests, 415 instantly relaxed and prepared the nodes she used to monitor Max's status while under the influence of the Dark Emerald. The nodes attached by sticking to veins and nerves just underneath the skin, an experience Max never really enjoyed. He usually transformed the moment the computer was ready and assumed the mantle of the Dark Emerald Ranger.

"Are you stable?" asked 415.

He nodded. "I am," he said. He still wasn't used to speaking in his own voice. "Releasing the Pokemon." His armor parted just enough for him to unhook the two Poke Balls attached to his clothes underneath. Mightyena and Grovyle emerged in bright flashes of light. "Ready?"

415 nodded. "Proceed."

"Alright. Let's do it, guys." Mightyena and Grovyle stood at his side as his dark shadowy chains slunk across their bodies, reabsorbed into Max's own body. He immediately sensed their minds, somewhere far away but close enough that he could hear their suggestions.

"Picking up the spikes in your consciousness," said 415. "Still stable."

Max concentrated on Grovyle, focusing on its strong, powerful legs. Instantly, he felt himself grow and looked down to see his legs elongating into the natural shape and build of a Grovyle's legs. He bent them, they felt quite sturdy. He jumped, he leapt quite high. "How we doing?" he asked.

"Vital signs are still stable," said 415. "I would advise adapting no more than fifty percent of your form to incorporate the Pokemon. Any further and you may lose your mind to the Pokemon instincts that will be generated the more attributes you take on."

"Should we test that?" asked Max.

"It is advisable to be certain. Approach no further than forty-nine percent."

Max concentrated again. This time he kept the legs, but his right hand sprouted a green version of his Mightyena's face. At the same time, his left arm took on the shape and appearance of his Grovyle's bladed elbows and dexterous fingers. In the dead center of his shoulders his skin erupted into Grovyle's face, peering out into the space behind him.

"Still stable?" asked 415.

Max had to focus. "Yeah," he said. "You're right. This thing is going to be hard if I keep adding stuff. Hang on." He concentrated, and the Grovyle face at the base of the back of his neck disappeared. "Ah, much better. Okay, it's still all me here."

"Good. Were you discomforted by your additional transformations?"

Max shook his head. "Didn't know you cared so much. Uh, no. I can kind of sense it's happening, but I can't feel anything of it. It was sort of like seeing yourself being operated on while under anesthesia."

"Of course I care about you. You are my prize experiment."

"Whom you are in a relationship with."

"That has nothing to do with this. You may demorph. I have the information I require."

Max nodded. "Thank you." He immediately released the Dark Emerald. Max, Grovyle, and Mightyena reappeared in a series of bright flashes of green light. "I can't tell you how great it is to get these out of me."

"Why? You heal the moment they are removed."

"Well, while they're stuck inside me, they itch like no tomorrow." He scratched each and every single healing hole in his body until they were all gone. "Can we seriously not figure out a better way to do this? Preferably with me not ending up as a human pincushion."

415 shook her head. "I am afraid not. Other methods are simply not as useful in gathering data. You will have to continue to use the needles while we monitor your growth."

"Was there any change from last week?"

415 nodded. "Some. The energy spikes increased, indicating your strength is still growing. Your base strength level is presently the same as Ranger Gold when not using the Auxiliary Pokemon System. With Grovyle and Mightyena attached, your power reaches a threshold halfway between Ranger Gold's standard form and Cario Form. There is no indication the incline is decreasing, either. Eventually, chances are good you will be the strongest ranger in our arsenal."

"Huh," said Max. "That sounds pretty cool. And I'm not even fully evolved."

"There is no way of measuring your potential strength in Shattered Form, but based on the jump in strength from Chained to Sealed Form, your Shattered Form may be on par with Ranger Gold's Chariard Form." 415 inputted the data into the computer. "However, it is unadvisable you attempt your final evolution. There is no way to predict how you will react to the biological change."

"I know. I don't have any intention of evolving. I think I'm just right for how I work in the team and I don't want to change that any time soon."

"Good. I would not want you to evolve unnecessarily."

Max grinned and got close to her. "That sounds awfully like concern again," he said. "Sure you're being impartial in this analysis?"

"I am still quite capable of cleaving your head from your shoulders. We are in public. Refrain from such trivialities." 415 offered him a brief smirk, just a tiny incline of her lips, before she resumed her stoic facial expressions and drew away.

"Yes, ma'am." Max turned to his Pokemon. "You guys don't care about 415 and me dating, do you?"

Mightyena perked its ears and looked towards 415. Then it shrugged and decided to scratch itself behind the ear. Grovyle suddenly found itself incredibly interested in flicking off a piece of dead leaf from its arm.

Max stuck out his tongue. "Return," he said, and held up their Poke Balls. They vanished and he reattached them to his belt. "Bunch of sourpusses."

"Come," said 415. "It is my understanding that Brock Harrison will be undergoing his physical therapy upstairs. I should observe how the prosthetics are operating."

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Brock was clearly not accustomed to life as a cyborg yet.

He missed his arms and legs dreadfully. Since the operations to remove the withered remains of his arms and legs and prepare the ports for the mechanical replacements, he found himself wishing that he could still feel flesh and blood when he closed his hand into a fist. The limbs had been connected to his nervous system, so he could still feel in a way, but it was more of a distant, calculated sense of feeling, the sort one gets while analyzing data never truly experienced.

Still, Elgyem and Chansey had made the limbs so well that they were virtually indistinguishable from his old arms and legs. They had his exact skin tone, the exact same length (with a little bit of additional muscle, to Brock's delight), they were perfect replicas. He could move his arms and change a channel on the television by himself. He could lift himself up and wheel himself over to the bathroom to do his own business without Elgyem levitating him. He had adapted to his new arms perfectly.

He was, however, still having trouble with the legs. Having spent months in the hospital bed waiting for the transplant, his balance was terribly off. Every time he tried to lift himself to stand he fell over, leaving him to crawl back to his wheelchair. He could wiggle the artificial toes and flex the artificial muscles, but something was off when he tried using the legs for their intended purpose.

"Maybe we connected something wrong," said Serena, as she looked him over.

Brock shook his head. "No, that can't be right," he said. "You guys did a great job on me. The arms work fine. It's gotta be something wrong with my head. Some kinda mental block."

"Maybe you need some motivation," said Serena. "Do you think that could help?"

Brock shrugged. "No idea. What'd you have in mind?"

"Well…" Serena giggled. "Okay, I've got it. Now, bear with me on this. What if, if you can try and take a few steps, we can go out to dinner again? Would that be enough motivation?"

Brock turned bright red. "Uh, I don't know about that."

Serena frowned. "Why not?" she asked, and gestured at herself. "Aren't I pretty enough for Brock Harrison, cyborg, to take to dinner?"

"Well, sure, but—" Brock paused, as if unsure how to phrase his thoughts. "Aren't you ten years younger than me?"

Serena huffed. "Why I never! A gentleman does not ask a lady her age!"

"I'm sorry, it's just that—" Brock stopped, he noticed that she was starting to laugh. "Oh, I get it. Ha ha."

Serena broke out into a full-body laugh. "I'm sorry, Brock! I'm just busting your balls. Geez, you really can't take a joke when it's coming from a beautiful woman, huh?"

Brock shook his head. "I really can't. Comes with the territory of being a hopeless romantic."

"Tell you what. We'll make a deal. You try to take a few steps, we'll watch that Bronyta thing you like together. But if you don't, Sarah gets to watch it first and spoil everything for you."

Brock's face fell. "That's not funny, Serena! She'll tell me everything before the credits are done."

Serena shrugged and sat down on a table on the other side of the room. "Guess you'll just have to get up and stop Sarah."

Brock groaned and immediately tried to adjust his legs so he could stand. They wobbled warily into place so that he could actually shift himself out of his chair. He immediately lost his balance and grabbed an adjacent counter to stabilize himself. "N-No fair," he muttered. "Why couldn't we have done this on some carpeting? Tile's slippery."

"I'm hearing a lot of complaining and not a lot of walking," said Serena. "Guess someone's getting spoilers."

"No!" Brock grunted again and hoisted himself up to the top of the counter. He was standing, albeit shakily, but standing nonetheless. "Okay, and now we balance." He shifted himself so he was still grabbing onto the counter with one hand. "Now we balance, now we balance, now we balance."

"Come on," said Serena. "I'm getting bored over here."

"I'm on it, I'm on it," said Brock. "Let me just…" He ordered his left foot to take a step forward. There was a brief delay as his mental command transfer from his nervous system to the electronic supplements, and then the foot shifted into place and set itself firmly down on the tile floor. "Okay, that's one step."

"More please," said Serena. "Just that one isn't going to cut it here."

"Alright, alright," he muttered. He tried taking another step with his right foot, taking advantage of the quick delay between thought and action to adjust himself as he moved. The other foot came down as well and he felt stable. "There. Two steps. That's a lot considering I've been stuck in that chair for a while."

Serena shook her head. "Uh-uh," she murmured. She pointed to the hand that was still balancing him on the counter. "Let's see you walk on your own. You do a good job, we might go get you a cane."

"But that wasn't part of the deal," said Brock.

She shrugged. "I'm allowed to change the deal if it suits me. There's no sense in complaining about it. I'm the one with the power to wheel you out of the room when the show's on."

Brock grunted again and suddenly released his grip on the counter. He instantly swayed, but was able to hold his balance with a tremendous amount of focus. He took another step forward and almost fell, but at the last minute used the weight of his new arms to steady himself and maintain his balance.

"One," he said, and offered a big grin.

"Try another one," said Serena.

He did just that, finding that his prosthetics were automatically adjusting to his motions. On his attempt for a third step he fell, sprawling himself on the floor, which resulted in Serena bursting into laughter.

Brock hoisted himself up off the ground and back into his chair. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Can I watch my show now?"

Serena nodded. "Let's go," she said and allowed him to wheel his way into the living room, where Sarah was already waiting impatiently as close to the television as she was allowed to be.

"Uncle Brock, Aunt Serry, hurry up!" she shouted. "It's gonna start!"

"We've got ten minutes, Sarah," said Brock. "Believe me, I'm just as excited as you. But take a deep breath."

"Brock Harrison," said a voice behind him. Brock turned and noticed Max and 415 standing in the atrium of the living room. "We must evaluate you."

Brock rolled his eyes. "Can it wait? I just want to watch the show."

"I am afraid it cannot," said 415. "My time is extremely valuable. Your evaluation time is scheduled to take place now. Please comply."

Brock sighed. "Fine, make it quick. We already did my testing."

415's eyebrow perked up. "You did? How?"

"Serena had me walk from one side of the room to the other."

"Did you succeed?"

"Sort of. I got the balance, but I fell over after the third step."

"That's pretty good," said Max. He and Brock then promptly exchanged high fives. "Considering you haven't been able to make a single step, that's really good."

Brock grinned. "Thanks. Truth be told, she made me do it or I wouldn't have been able to watch my show."

"Guys!" said Sarah. "Stop talking, it's about to start!"

"Leave it to Serena," said Max. "She just gets guys."

Serena smiled broadly and ruffled up Brock's hair. "Sure do. Especially big lugs like this one. You should have heard him complaining about not getting spoiled on today's episode."

"Uh, let's not go down that road," said Brock. "I'd rather that were private."

"Nothing's private in this family," said Max. "Lay it on us."

At this point Sarah, having had quite enough of the grownups speaking while she waited for her show, stood up and marched over to where they were all sitting. "Look," she said, in a sudden severity that none of them had ever heard before. "_My Little Ponyta_ is starting in thirty seconds. It is my favorite show and I want to watch it in peace and quiet!" The adults, far too terrified of this little girl, said nothing in response. Satisfied, Sarah nodded her head and returned to her position as physically adjacent to the television as she was allowed.

"Remind you of anyone?" asked Max.

Brock nodded. "Getting more and more like her mother every day."

"Imbeciles," said 415, and left them to their show.

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Later in the afternoon, 0 and May took Sarah out for a walk with their Pokemon. Sarah, having already discerned that there was little that Z would not do when asked nicely by an adorable little girl, was riding the gigantic, orange dragon around the path. Z, trying its best to ignore the pain of being grabbed by its long, tube-shaped horns, stomped and snarled at the behest of the little girl. May found it to quite possibly be the cutest thing she had ever seen. 0 found it terrifying that his daughter could already subjugate one of his most powerful Pokemon in this fashion.

"You know," said May, as she watched Blaziken and Lu spar up ahead, "she's going to be eight in a few months. We might want to start looking into getting her enrolled in a Pokemon accreditation school to get her license to register as a Pokemon trainer."

"I don't know," he said. "I'm not sure I feel comfortable with Sarah starting the journey right now."

"Why? We both left at ten."

"Oh, I know. It's got nothing to do with that. It's just that I'm worried about what'll happen to her if I'm not around to protect her. I mean, we've got so many enemies out there, who knows if they would try to come after her? I just think we should hold off on her getting ready to leave until we're sure the coast is clear."

"Do you think this'll still be going on in two years?"

0 shrugged. "It's already been going on for more than two. There's no way to tell when they'll run out of rangers. I'd just feel more comfortable waiting until the threat's over."

"Still, she doesn't have that many friends," said May. "And she barely knows anyone her own age that didn't try to eat her. I just want to make sure she gets to interact with kids her own age. That's part of school too. She doesn't have to leave home just because she has the license."

"I suppose that's true. I guess I'm just being overprotective."

She lightly punched him. "Not overprotective. Sweet. Our parents probably went through the same thing." She looked to where Sarah had convinced Z that it would be a good idea to have a small flight in the air above. "It's just hard letting them go."

"Preaching to the choir here," said 0. "I just got back into her life. I definitely don't want her going off so soon. Maybe I should go on the journey with her…"

"You'll do no such thing," said May. "She'll be a big girl. Let her live her own life."

0 smirked. "Fine. But one of my Pokemon is going with her to supervise. Fair's fair."

"Alright. One Pokemon, so she doesn't just use that one in battles. Your Pokemon are very strong."

"Yeah they are," said 0 with a chuckle.

Z tucked its wings into a dive and gently cascaded down towards a soft landing. Sarah squealed with joy and pulled on its horns even harder, causing Z to grunt with discomfort. Then she leaned in and lightly kissed its neck, and Z's skin changed from bright orange to a deep shade of red. 0 chuckled. The Pokemon had not changed an iota in all the years since they had traveled together. He saw so much of himself in Z, both of them seasoned warriors capable of going through anything to defend the ones they loved. When he had transformed with Z, it had almost been like being supplemented by himself, unlike when Lu's playful nature or Tork's emotional side emerged, both of which were able to completely transform his personality.

"She's going to be quite the little heartbreaker in a few years," said May with a smirk. "You know, back when the paparazzi were always on our tails they'd always do nice little photo ops of Sarah. I think that was the one thing about them I liked."

"Hrmmm…" grumbled 0. "She's not allowed near boys until she's an adult. She should be focused on Pokemon, not boys."

May giggled. "That's ridiculous. There's no way she'll not be meeting boys on her trips. I mean, I traveled with you and Brock. Oh, and Drew for a while."

"My opinion is not swayed," said 0. "My little girl, my rules."

"Our rules, dear," said May.

"Oh. Yeah, that's what I meant."

Sarah had Z head back in the direction of her parents, touching down lightly at their feet. "Hey, Mom, when do you think the school is gonna open back up?" she asked. "I miss the games and everything."

"I don't know, little girl," said May. "When a bunch of bad guys show up and just start attacking in front of everyone at a school, parents aren't really interested in having them come back. Maybe in a little while, when everything calms down."

"But if we wait too long, I won't be able to get my trainer's license," said Sarah.

0 grinned. "Don't worry, you're a natural. The other kids won't know what hit them when you get in the ring."

"You think so?" asked Sarah.

"Definitely. Now let Z have a break. Why not go play with someone else?" A look of relief flooded Z's bright eyes, while the other Pokemon all suddenly took on expressions of extreme concern. Tork retreated into its shell in response.

"Mmmm…alright," she said and hopped off Z's back. She immediately decided that she would play tag with Lu and Blaziken, who took off across the front lawn in gratitude for Sarah's decision not to ride them as she did Z.

And for a little while, 0 and May held hands while they watched their daughter play. They looked to May's protruding stomach, and they shared a smile.

"She's not going to be too happy about having a brother," said 0.

"She'll adapt. She always does."

"Ranger Gold, May Birch?"

0 immediately touched his hand to his com-link. "Here, 415," he said.

"We have guests. Recall your Pokemon and your daughter. We will join you presently. Out."

0 nodded, and then turned to May. "Looks like we have company," he said.

May turned to Sarah. "Little girl, come back! It's going to be a bad day!"

Sarah immediately stopped what she was doing and led the Pokemon back to her parents. 0 and May recalled everyone just as Max, 415, and Serena emerged from the house. Sarah found herself instantly surrounded by a circle of adults. She put her hands in her pockets and looked down on the ground.

"Who is it?" asked 0. "Another pair of Dark Gems?"

Serena shrugged. "Another pair of something. They're making a beeline for our location. One of them looked very familiar."

"Ame?"

Serena nodded. "Ame. Looks like she's finally making her move."

"Well, there's four of us and two of them, and Ame's never been much of a fighter. Let's give them something to remember."

Ame was indeed approaching, flanked by another, somewhat taller individual. An individual that was immediately recognized by all of them. The two approached the gathering of rangers and the man standing next to Ame offered them the biggest smirk they had ever seen.

"Alexander Charon," said 0.

Charon nodded. "Good day, everyone. I trust you're all doing well?" He then took out and placed upon his nose a pair of sunglasses, in spite of the fact that it was approaching dusk. "Me? I've been just peachy. Peachy, I tell you! Life's been great in PKM without my big shiny meal tickets wandering around being cool superheroes."

0 readied the trigger on his morpher. "You know why we left, Charon. We made the choice to leave because you were trying to split our family apart. You were going to gut Max to see what made the Dark Gems tick, you were going to abandon Silver, and you wanted us to be your slaves. We weren't just going to—"

Suddenly, Charon's eyes bulged out of his head. "I own you!" he screeched. "The technology was funded by my family, it was our turn to run the organization, you were my soldiers! Soldiers follow orders! You should have just shut up and done what you were told!"

"We're not soldiers," said Serena. "We're rangers."

"Because there's a difference!" Charon spat. "All you're arguing is a question of semantics!"

"Why are you here, Charon?" asked 0. "We're all kinda wondering why you're on a date with a Dark Gem that doesn't really do much fighting."

"Ah yes, that. Yes, why am I here?" Charon paused, as if waiting for someone else to complete his thought, then resumed the conversation. "I'm here to take back what's mine. I figure a few brand new rangers, ones that won't be so annoying, would be perfect for my brand new PKM."

"Well, that's just not going to happen," said 0.

Charon smiled. "Oh, but I'm afraid it is. You see, I have this." Up until now, none of the rangers had noticed, but Charon's right hand had been kept behind his back. He withdrew it, and it took all their power not to recoil with disgust.

They knew exactly what it was, even if Charon had made modifications to its design. The Master Morpher. Bakaguru's morpher. Its orange and white surface proved a sharp contrast against the black clothing Charon was wearing, and he lovingly caressed a new, small hole in the center of the morpher.

"You're sick," hissed Serena, who took a step forward but was held back by 0. "We have to do something. He can't just run around wearing that."

"It is an abomination," agreed 415. "We must remove it from his person." There was a quiver in her voice, a distinct distain that permeated the air.

"It's not an abomination, it's my toy," said Charon. "And it's not my only one, is it Ame?" He turned to the woman next to him, who so far has resigned to keeping quiet, who looked up at the rangers with a grim expression etched into her face.

She nodded. "Rangers, there is no other alternative. I have been authorized to use lethal force to fulfill my contract. In addition, Alexander Charon has been contracted by my employers to perform the single, solitary task of bringing about your demise. He has been given a Dark Gem which has been incorporated into PKM Ranger technology."

0 was stunned. "Incorporated? You can mix those two together?"

Charon smiled and produced a bright ruby. In a flash, he set the stone into the morpher, which acknowledge the foreign material and incorporated it into its design, transforming from a white and orange surface to a deep red and orange hybrid. "Just did, baby. Ame, you want to get in on this?"

Ame responded by producing a stone of her own, a dark purple gem that looked almost like an onyx. "Prepare yourselves," said Ame. The chain wrapped up one leg, across her waist, then down the other leg again. Charon's, on the other hand, produced no chain as he raised the morpher to press the trigger.

The transformation was not unlike the sequence that 0, Serena, and 415 went through when they transformed. A bright light in the shape of a Poke Ball just surrounded Charon and, when it opened, there he stood looking exactly as Bakaguru had when he had transformed, the only differences being where there had once been white there was now red and the giant, gleaming ruby in the center of his chest. Charon marveled at himself, looking this way and that to inspect the suit himself, before he appeared content and faced the others.

"Yes," he said. "I think this will work perfectly, don't you?"

0 clenched his hands into fists. He instantly demorphed back into his ranger form. "Burn him to the ground," he growled. "Burn him and leave nothing but ashes!"

"_Dark Gem Ignite_!" shouted Max. He, along with the others, followed suit and morphed into their ranger forms.

Ame waited until they were all done to transform. "_Dark Gem, Ignite_," she whispered as her body surrounded itself with a fierce, radiant purple.

"Beautiful," whispered Charon, when the light faded away. "Even more beautiful than I could have dreamed."

"Dark Amethyst Ranger," she said simply. Her body, from her arms to her helmet, was shaped in the distinct image of a Haunter's face and claws.

"She's already in Sealed Form," said 0. "Be on your toes."

"Ruby Master Ranger!" shouted Charon to himself. "Attack!"

Charon was on them before they could even get May and Sarah inside Ranger Downs. He tore towards them, disregarding the laws of physics, decency, and common sense, to punch 0 square in the face and send him flying. Max immediately took over and grappled with Charon for about five seconds, long enough for Sarah and May to start making a break for the house, but also long enough for Charon to topple Max's balance and shove him into the ground.

"415!" shouted 0 as he returned to the field. "Retreat with Sarah and May. Silver, activate Rescue Mode! Max, get your Pokemon out!" He himself inserted a distinctly green Poke Ball into his morpher. "Auxiliary Pokemon System: Perior Form!"

0's legs immediately started to change, growing vein-like vines from his boots to his waist. 0 wasted no time. "Synchronization Drive: Vine Whip!" The vines instantly started to multiply and grow, lashing out from behind 0's back like tentacles to distract Charon from the others. He flipped through the air and landed gracefully in front of Charon, covering the ground with vines.

"Boyo," said Serp, "the other is trying to pass us."

0 flicked his head over to check on Ame. She was indeed trying to get passed his squad, but Serena was holding her off with her Rescue Mode. Ame just kept backing up, avoiding the fight at all costs.

"No matter," he said. He was always surprised by how elegant he sounded when he used Serp. "We shall deal with this one, then conclude our business." He turned to Charon, who had only just noticed that his legs were covered in a thicket of vines. "Now then, how shall I dispatch you?"

Charon grunted. He twisted and turned, but was unable to escape the ever-increasing number of vines surrounding his body. The sheer mass forming from 0 even allowed Max the opportunity to retreat to a safer position. "You're nothing but a coward," Charon spat. "Don't make me do this the hard way."

"You're an impetuous one, aren't you?" asked 0, before marveling at the fact that he had no idea what the word impetuous meant. He assumed Serp knew what it meant and continued with his plan. "Synchronization Drive: Leaf Tornado!"

Somehow, the wind suddenly and sharply focused its attentions onto Charon. It kicked up and increased as dozens and dozens of leaves simply appeared around 0's body. They glowed faintly as they targeted Charon with their sharp, jagged edges. 0 shifted his head just so and the leaves attack, firing at Charon like a thousand little battering rams. Each time they struck Charon lurched back just a bit, but was trapped due to the vines and forced to endure as the next attacked, and the next, and the next, until finally all the leaves had fluttered to the ground.

With Charon still standing, looking no more worse for wear than if he had just had to endure the onslaught of a light breeze.

"Are you done?" he asked, glancing about himself. "Good. I wasn't sure, and you were taking forever, but I really didn't want to interrupt your big moment." He then patted the growing amount of vines around his waist and legs. "Get out of my way."

And then the strangest thing happened. The vines simply fell away. No withering, no vanishing, the vines simply loosened their grip and fell off, allowing Charon to step out and dust himself off. He double-checked himself again, and then turned towards 0.

"But…how?" asked 0. He had never seen anything like it.

Charon shrugged. "I just moved them out of the way." He tapped his helmet. "Force of will and all that nonsense. Now…" He ran up and punched 0 right in the gut.

Pain, pain that should not have been there in his infrared form, shot through his body and forced him to the ground. No one had hit him that hard. Sappho had not hit him that hard. Top had not hit him that hard. It was another new level of power.

"Max," he grunted. "Lend me the power of the Dark Emerald."

He hauled himself to his feet as Max approached. Charon had already moved on to assist Ame in dealing with Serena. May and Sarah were inside with 415, probably working to seal themselves into Ranger Downs with Brock. Max nodded and extended the shadow chains, flooding 0 with insurmountable energy once more.

"Our capacities are full," said Serp. "Have him release us and let us be off."

"Yes." Max's chains withdrew from him and he turned to Max. "Make your way to the base. Leave the rest to me."

"Aye, aye, boss," said Max. "Don't get yourself kill."

"That is the plan," said 0. He watched Max bound away then turned towards the fight. "Serp, begin powering up the Synchronization Drive. I have a plan."

"Oh?" asked the snake, who complied with his suggestion. "Have you forgotten the success of our last maneuver? What do you propose?"

"I recall Silver being capable of smashing through the Dark Topaz with the merest touch," he murmured. "Perhaps it would be a wise decision to repeat the process."

He could practically see Serp chuckling. "Very well, let us see."

0 rejoined the fight, separating Ame and Charon from his team. "Everyone, gather round!" he shouted. They instantly positioned themselves around him. "Silver, make ready your Rescue Mode for a direct attack upon the ruby. Max, concentrate on Ame. 415, with me."

Serena darted behind them as 0 and 415 charged forward into a headlong collision with Charon. Charon just stared at them and let them tackle him to the ground before he burst forth in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"Is that really the best you've got?" he asked. Then he shoved them and both 0 and 415 went flying into the air. "A fluff of dust is more lethal to me!"

0 and 415 recovered just in time to see Serena punch Charon directly in the chest, only instead of the Dark Ruby crumpling and cracking into nothingness to take Charon to the death he so dearly deserved, Charon stood unharmed. He had grabbed her wrist with minimal difficulty, only touching the pieces of her armor that remained untransformed into the powerful ice plates so she could move about. He took her by her dainty hand and gave a slight bow of his head.

"May I lead?" he asked, and then threw her into the others. She barely managed to disengage her Rescue Mode before 0 grabbed her and set her back on the ground.

"Retreat," muttered 0.

"What?" asked Serena. "We can totally take them."

0 shook his head. "Not right now. We must retreat and plan for a second encounter. We cannot win at this moment." He disengaged Perior Form and reverted back to his standard gear. "We've got to teleport out of here, get Sarah, May, and Brock out of harm's way, before we can do anything. They'll just keep battering us down like this unless we fight on our terms."

He tapped his helmet, where a small com-link had been attached to the left side. "Watchtower, beam everyone back. We need to regroup."

"We can take them—"

"No you can't!" Charon abruptly cut off Max's retort by smashing the Dark Emerald Ranger in the face. Max slammed into the ground, but instantly rolled away and recovered.

"Watchtower, teleport us now!" 0 shouted. He suddenly felt himself fading away, and then found himself standing in the middle of Ranger Downs with the others.

"We could have taken them!" shouted Max.

"This isn't up for discussion, Max," said 0. "We don't know what capacities merging the PKM Ranger System with a Dark Gem produced. He could be strong enough to kill us even if we were ten times our size."

"We still could have tried," said Max. "Since when are you such a fan of playing it safe?"

0 stepped close to Max, to the point where they barely stood a foot apart. "I'm trying to keep everyone alive," he said. "We had three civilians that can't fight inside Ranger Downs that the Dark Gems want. If they had gotten through our line, who's going to protect them? Do you think I'm going to be of any help if they tear through my containment suit and scatter my data so it can't ever be recovered? Do you think my wife, daughter, and unborn child are going to be better off if Uncle Max gets his Dark Emerald crushed because he was afraid to run away? Do you think any of us are going to just be fine if we lose anybody? We already lost Bakaguru, we're not losing anyone else."

Max said nothing for a moment, and lowered his head. "I still think we gave up too soon," he said. "We had options."

0 shook his head. "No. We have options now."

"Alright," said May, stepping in between them, "so what's the plan?"

"Scatter," said 0. "We set the teleporter at random and bide our time. If I can synch all my Pokemon into another form, we might have a better shot with that kind of power."

"Hello, hello!" shouted a voice from behind the failsafe door. "I want to come inside!"

"We have to go," said 0. "Everybody stay demorphed, they can probably track us through the energy our ranger suits produce." He turned to Elgyem. "Whoever winds up with you will use your telepathy to communicate. Understand?" Elgyem nodded its head. "Then fire up the teleporter. Set the range to Goldenrod City so we can stay within telepathic range."

Charon was knocking on the door, which sounded a lot like a battering ram scraping against the metal. "Come on out, boyos! Time to take your medicine!"

Max stepped onto the teleporter first. "You'd better be right," he said. He helped Brock up to his feet and, with the aid of a cane, Brock made his way to the teleporter. Everyone else followed suit, and before long all eight humans were ready for transport.

"See you all soon," said 0. He clenched his wife and daughter's hands.

The machine whirled to life and the humans, and all of their Pokemon, vanished into thin air.

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Charon took another five minutes, but he eventually made his way through the failsafe door and into the room. He snarled and broke at least three computers before Ame joined him.

"They got away," he complained. "Do something!"

Ame moved towards the machines. "There is nothing to be done. You just destroyed the equipment that would have allowed me to track them."

"No, no, no!" he shouted. "Fix it!"

Ame shook her head and demorphed. "It would be an unproductive use of my time," she said. "Better to find Eme and have him lead us to them."

Charon demorphed in order to spit on the ground. "Fine! Go get him for me! I'll track down their morphing signals. As long as they're morphed, I can find them."

"I would not bank on such a plan. Odds favor them keeping their morphers inactive for the time being." Ame crossed the room and returned to the door. "Remain here. I will contact you when you are needed."

Charon shook his head. "Oh, no. I've spent too much time sitting behind a desk and not enough time torturing those insubordinate fools. I'm coming with—" He stopped approaching her when she raised her hand.

"Remember, Alexander Charon," said Ame, "you may have a Dark Gem born from the pain and suffering of an entire nation of bodies. I have a Dark Gem that can rip your heart out and feed it to you. It will not kill you, but it will take some time for you to rejoin me."

Charon did not sweat, but he made no move to follow her as she vanished from the base.

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…_**Twenty-Five Years Ago…**_

He watched as the computer decided his fate.

There were literally hundreds of possibilities as to where his aptitude test would place him. The computation was supposed to take five minutes, but he had been standing in front of the monitor for at least ten at this point. He was hungry too, he had not eaten since breakfast and they had made him skip lunch to take the test. He sighed and lost himself in a fantasy of the beef stew awaiting him in the cafeteria.

It took an additional two minutes, but eventually the machine reached its decision and started printing out his assignment. He took it with trembling hands and looked it over:

CANDIDATE NAME: NIWA, BAKAGURU

PKM AGENT NUMBER: 12334

CADET NIWA IS ASSIGNED TO THE SCIENCE DIVISION, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SECTION, SUBSECTION 003.

He could scarcely believe it. He turned the short message over to make sure it was not a hoax, but there was nothing on the other side of the paper. He reread it, then read it once more to be certain. It was unheard of, so far as Bakaguru knew, for a cadet to be assigned to Research and Development, particularly Subsection 003, which had the reputation of only selecting agents after years of training in other divisions.

"Why would they want me?" he wondered aloud. The design he had submitted was…strange, to say the least. He decided he would question it no more and simply accept his good luck, so he stood up and began making his way to the cafeteria. His mouth salivated as he approached, catching a whiff of the delicious stew he so enjoyed.

The cafeteria was incredibly crowded. All the new recruits were challenging the senior agents for breathing room in the lines, and as a result Bakaguru was forced to wait in a seemingly-endless line for his lunch rations. He found the slow crawl of the line almost unbearable, and almost devoured his bowl the instant the chef placed it in his hands. He reflected that such an action would not endear him to the female agents and took a seat at a table in the back as far away from the din of noise as he was able.

He unwrapped his spoon and dove right into the stew, but before he could complete his first, blissful bite he was approached by two other cadets.

He chewed then swallowed. "Can I help you two?" he asked. He had noticed the two of them in line, but had thought nothing of them at the time. One was very tall, with a shock of dusty black hair and fierce dark eyes. The other was a little shorter, though both were taller than Bakaguru, with brown hair and, oddly enough, natural red eyes.

The man with the dusty hair nodded. "You Bakaguru Niwa?" he asked.

Bakaguru nodded. "I am. Why do you ask?"

The man grinned then turned to the other. "Told you it was him. Saw him in one of the preliminary classes. Real smart cookie."

The two men put their portions of stew on the table and sat down with Bakaguru. "Nice to meet you," said the red-eyed man. "My name's Arthur. Arthur Logan. My associate is named Terrance."

"Terry," said Terry, lightly punching Arthur on the arm.

"Yes, Terry. Excuse me." He took a tentative sip of the stew and smiled. "This is excellent, by the way. We're your new coworkers."

Bakaguru's eyes widened. "You two were assigned to Research and Development too?" he asked.

Terry nodded. "Subsection 003."

"Pardon me if I say this, but the two of you don't exactly look like the smartest bulbs in the box," said Bakaguru. "I'm still surprised that I got in. Why would they want the two of you?"

Arthur shrugged. "In my case, it's nepotism. I come from one of the three founding families that started PKM, so I received my pick of assignments. I have no idea why Terry is here."

"It's because I'm a tactician," said Terry. "Before I got in, I used to be an awesome Pokemon brawler. I even won a championship once. I'm not the brightest bulb, but I'm a pretty tough one."

"Charmed," said Bakaguru. "So, why are you guys in PKM anyway? Well, I guess Arthur's here because of family."

"Ain't that the truth," said Arthur. "I really just want to write, but we take our lots in life. Figured at least Research and Development would be the best way for me to do some creative work while I'm here."

"I'm here because of family too," said Terry. "I wasn't pulling enough in from the Pokemon tournaments, so I figured I'd try a career change for the wife and kid."

"Won't they miss you while you do your training?" asked Bakaguru.

Terry shook his head. "I was on the road a lot as a trainer. I worked out a deal where my time here is about the same. Took a little hit in pay, but I've gotta see my little squirt."

"What about you, Bakaguru?" asked Arthur. "What brings you here?"

"I was drafted. After I finished my graduate work at university, I received an offer to join in the form of the company dangling enough money in front of me to pay for the design of all my blueprints."

"That's pretty neat," said Arthur, as the three of them began eating. "What were you designing?"

Bakaguru reddened slightly. "In truth it's a bit embarrassing. I had an idea for soldiers to use advanced armor, sort of like medieval samurai, in battle. I designed a system similar to Poke Balls to store the armor when it's not in use and bring it out with a push of a button."

Terry's eyes lit up. "Awesome," he said. "We would be total superheroes."

"It does sound rather fantastic," said Arthur.

"If you think about it, it really isn't," said Bakaguru. "We already have the technology to make the suits and the technology to store them. Poke Ball technology could be converted to work with a number of things. We could store weapons and vehicles, really anything we wanted. It isn't inconceivable that we could store and summon a regular suit of armor."

"Is there a way for us to make these suits different colors?" asked Terry. "I really see myself in red."

"Please," said Arthur, as he pointed at his eyes. "If anyone deserves to be the red one, it's me."

"We can see. Everything's hypothetical at this point. Who knows if they'll even let us make the technology? They might put us to work testing their new artillery or some sort of helicopter or tank."

"True, or they could put us on your awesome suit of armor plan," said Terry. "Now I'm really excited I got stuck in this science group. I thought for sure I was just going to be handing test tubes to nerds because science wasn't really my strong suit in school."

"Well, if the plan does get underway we will require a test pilot," said Bakaguru. "But we need to get approval before we can even consider positions."

But Terry ignored him. As they continued to eat, slurping up pieces of stew, they discussed how the technology would theoretically work, how the armor would materialize over someone's body without users having to physically strap themselves in, and what would be the best tools to put into the armor.

"Personally, I'm all for putting machine guns on the shoulders," said Terry. "Can we do that?"

Bakaguru shrugged. "I'm not sure, to be honest. I do know that if we continue to get more complicated with the design, the harder the armor would be to store. As the variables increase, the likelihood the armor will materialize in the wrong place increases."

"What's that mean?" asked Terry.

"Means that if you stick too much onto it, odds are good it could show up again up your keester," said Arthur. "Plus, the more we put onto it the more memory the storage device needs to keep it in stasis. Same reason we need bigger Poke Balls for bigger Pokemon."

"Exactly," said Bakaguru. "This would need to be compact, possibly not much larger than the human that would go inside the armor. And even then, odds are good that the storage device would be huge compared to a Poke Ball, possibly the size of a twenty-pound backpack. If we kept increasing the capacity, we could end up with gigantic packs that would be unfeasible for agents to carry into combat situations."

"Eh, I guess we could just carry guns around with us normally," said Terry. "Unless we make other storage units that could hold those. How much room would we need to store a regular gun?"

"Maybe the size of a Poke Ball. Those could be carried around in separate containers." Bakaguru smiled. "That's not a bad idea. I hadn't considered that."

"See, you're already pulling your weight around here," said Arthur.

Terry flashed him a grin. "So, how do we go about getting these things started? I'm eager to be getting my superhero suit on."

"Well, first we would have to finalize the schematics necessary to convert the armor to the storage device and have it successfully reemerge onto the user's body. Then we need to finalize the design for the armor itself."

"You don't have a design for the armor?" asked Arthur.

"Only insofar as its general appearance," said Bakaguru. "I'm not much of an artistic type. I essentially saw it as armor plating over a regular infantry suit."

"No, no, no," said Arthur. "There are a whole slew of factors to consider. What about Kevlar? It's new, but the research shows that it could become a viable replacement for metal in the coming years."

"I'm open to new ideas, trust me," said Bakaguru. "My primary skill was just figuring out how to store non-Pokemon components."

Terry pointed at his bowl, which was quite empty at this point. "How's about we continue this discussion over some more food? I need at least three of these before I'm satisfied."

Arthur and Bakaguru nodded in agreement and followed Terry over to the line. They continued to talk, ignoring most of the shenanigans going on amongst the newer recruits around them, and scheme about a proposal to set in front of the Council.

"You can really do that?" asked Bakaguru.

Arthur smiled. "Naturally. I can call in my father and get him to force the Council to hear the proposal. Unfortunately, it isn't our turn to lead the organization, the Brines have it for the next few years, so there's no guarantee that it'll work. With my backing, though, we definitely have a better shot than if it were just you two on your own."

"Whoever said that nepotism was useless and for hacks never met you," said Bakaguru. "It will take some time, but we should be ready to submit a proposal within the next year. It could lead to a new arms race. Think of it. Soldiers with the strength of tanks combined with the mobility and dexterity of any agent."

"And we'd be the ones that make it happen," said Terry. "Man, it'd be cool. I'm sure we'd get some kinda promotion."

"Maybe," said Bakaguru, "but I think our focus should probably be on the safety of the agents in the field, not promotions. Remember, we're just starting out here, even if we do have a huge head start over the others."

Terry nodded. "Fair enough," he said, and put his hand on the table. "So, we a team?"

Arthur placed his hand on Terry's. "Agreed."

Bakaguru smiled despite himself, and also put his hand on theirs. "Agreed," he said. They then lifted their hands in a traditional sign of friendship.


	38. Morph 38

**Author's Note:** Please enjoy the **second chapter** in my four-part posting this evening.

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**Morph Thirty-Eight: Scattered**

"Sarah! Sarah!"

0 and May ran through the streets, shouting and shouting their daughter's name. It was too dark, it was raining, and they could barely see the noses in front of their faces. Still they searched until, finally, May tired and they were forced to stop.

"Go on," she murmured, as she forced herself to sit on a nearby bench. "I can't…I'm too tired. Come back for me later."

0 shook his head. "We're not separating. I might not be able to find you again. And what if they managed to track us? They could get to you before I get back."

"0, I don't care if they find me!" shouted May. "Our daughter could be scared and alone in a city with millions of people. She doesn't have a cell phone, she doesn't have a way to let us know she's safe, she could be all alone waiting for us. I'll find somewhere to hide, I have cash, but we're going to find our daughter. Is that clear?"

0 just nodded his head. "Understood. But I'm still not leaving you. Remember, we don't just have Sarah to look out for anymore. We have to keep him safe too."

May rubbed her belly. "I am all the protection this one needs, 0. You go find our daughter."

0 gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "This wouldn't have happened if I could synchronize everything. Pi and I've worked everything out, except for that actual transformation."

"Would it be powerful enough to fight Charon?"

0 looked away. "I'm not exactly sure. There's no base to compare the theory with. I have no idea how they managed to synch a Dark Gem to the Ranger System. Especially…" He paused. "Oh no. That's why."

"What's why?"

"It's because of the morpher. Bakaguru's morpher was really, really old technology. Didn't have the ranger spirit, didn't have the weapons, didn't have anything. But it was still on par, relatively speaking, with our morphers. If it wasn't Bakaguru using it, it could have gone toe to toe with everyone. And it was empty. It had the potential to use a Pokemon, but Bakaguru never bothered to install one. Charon just overrode the controls and tricked it into accepting a foreign material."

"So it has the best of both worlds. An ultra-strong Dark Gem and Bakaguru's upgrades."

"Plus whatever else Charon did to it so it would take the new power source," said 0, and he turned to her. "We have to figure out a way to synch my five Pokemon. If the fight today was any indication, it's going to be our best bet to put him to bed."

"We can sort that out later," said May. "For now, you need to go find our daughter. You're what she needs right now."

"What she needs is both of us," said 0.

"We're not having this debate all over again," said May. "Go! Use the Agility and do a wide-sweep, or something. Anything."

"I can't use Agility. If I do, they'll lock onto the energy I give off."

May growled at him. "Then do something else! You've got all those contraptions, there has to be something we can do."

0 instinctively tapped his head. "Pi?" he asked.

"What do you need?" asked the mouse.

"Is there any way we can track down Sarah without sending off a signal Charon can pick up?"

"That's a really good question. Technically, he'll be able to tell the moment you have to demorph. That shouldn't be possible, should it?"

0 shrugged. "I don't know. I thought Bakaguru disconnected the morphers so they couldn't be tracked by anyone."

"Maybe," said May, "maybe Charon can track the energy you give off. He might not be able to track the morpher itself, but he could probably pick up a reading when you demorph."

"She's probably right, 0," said Pi. "We have to figure out a way to mask our energy. We're starting to run out of time."

"We could get underground, get some steel around me."

_0? May?_

0 paused. "Hang on. Did you hear something?"

May nodded. "I think it sounded like Serena."

0 agreed, and then tapped his head. "Silver, that you?" he asked.

_Of course it's me. You know anyone else with an Elgyem to communicate with telepathically?_

"Fair point. Status update."

_I have Darmanitan and Elgyem with me. Brock's here too. And Sarah, so you can stop looking for her._ Both parents instantly breathed sighs of relief. _We're not sure where we are. I can't send Brock or Sarah out to go buy a map. We're hiding out in an alley right now._

"Make for the nearest motel," said 0. "Try to avoid the Internet. Odds are good your morpher's signal will be spotted the moment you try to hack in with Dewgong. Find a map that way. Keep our daughter safe."

"Any news on Max and 415?" asked May.

_Couldn't tell. You two were the first we contacted. We had to keep moving until we found a discreet spot to try the telepathy. You would think there would be more abandoned alleyways._

0 nodded. "Okay, Silver. Continue transmitting on the telepathy and we'll see if we can't figure out where everyone went. Maintain radio silence on the morphers and try to find a more secure spot to hide until we can figure out our next move."

_Roger, boss. Over and out._

His head suddenly felt silent again, and he looked down at May, who nodded her head. "Me too," she said as she tapped her skull. "At least Sarah's safe."

He sat down next to her. "For now," he said. "Until the next crisis. Until they find her again."

"She's got her Aunt Serry looking out for her. Look, the fact that they're bringing out these big guns is both a good and bad thing."

"How so?" asked 0.

"Think about it. What does it say that they had to bring in Charon, or that Ame has to fight now? They're both heavy hitters. They shouldn't have to fight. Ame hasn't touched us in the entire time she's been following us. They don't even have any Rangerlings with them. What's changed?"

"We took down Top and Dia, and a whole bunch of those Rangerlings. Maybe they're running out of options. They're using the big stuff because it's all they have left."

"Exactly. At this point they would have sent all the weak stuff out already. They're scared, so they're using as much power as they can to take us out."

0 thought about that. "Then that means that there's something else out there. Ame works for someone. It couldn't have been Charon, she must have brought him in to mess with our heads. There's someone else out there pulling these strings and making us dance."

May took his hand. "We'll get through it. They're not getting the Dark Gold, they aren't getting Serena, they aren't getting me. Now explain the plan to me."

0 squeezed her fingers. "In theory, Pi and I realized that the Auxiliary Ranger System has a backup…something, that lets…hang on." He pulled out his communicator and opened the speaker. "Pi, can you hear us?"

"Yes," said the mouse.

"Please explain how the Synch Battlizer is supposed to work."

The mouse chuckled. "Basically, he already explained it," it said. "Usually, when 0 uses the ASP, he uses one Pokemon at a time over the suit I generate. The theory is that we can put all five Pokemon into one suit. There's some code available in the Ailed Morpher to make the Battlizer, but we can't figure out a way to supercharge the morpher. In theory, we'd need enough energy to power the whole city for a week, and we're pretty sure we can't just hook him up to a power plant and let him soak all that up."

"Pretty sure I'd explode," said 0.

"So we need to find some other way of getting him energy. We thought about using the Dark Emerald, but even what we got from Max doesn't give him enough juice."

"What's left to sort out in the code?" asked 0.

"Eh, it's complicated. Short answer is that the code seems to only focus on rotating the Pokemon. So we could, in theory, link the Pokemon wirelessly to the morpher and make it so we could switch the Pokemon without having to take out and reinsert Poke Balls. But putting all five together still doesn't work."

Pi was about to say more, but May's alarm started sounding. "Come on," she said. "We need to get you somewhere to demorph."

"Let's head for the subway," said 0. "Might have a better chance of masking the signal there."

"And they won't come after us, because there won't be a way of telling where we're going next."

0 smiled. "Now that's why I love you. You always were smarter than me. Well, except in battling. Now there I'm—"

"Dear, we're wasting time."

"Right, right."

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Serena released her hold on Elgyem and turned to Sarah. "Just spoke with your parents. They were awfully worried about you, but they're doing okay. Told us to lay low, alright?"

Sarah nodded, though she still found herself staying close to Brock's wheelchair. "Okay, Aunt Serry," she said, keeping her hands firmly in her pockets.

Brock looked up as Elgyem recalled itself into its Poke Ball. "So, what's the plan, fearless leader?" he asked.

"We find a hotel, probably something middle class. They'll look at the cheaper motels and we can't afford anything fancy with the emergency pack I have with me. Then we get in touch with Max and 415. Then we sit tight until 0 can figure out how to counteract Charon's little tantrum." Serena got behind Brock and started pushing his chair. "After that, I don't know. This might not be a problem we can solve."

"Why not?" asked Brock.

Serena sighed. "You didn't know him, but Bakaguru was probably one of the most important people in my life growing up. He's the reason I'm Ranger Silver now, and he was a mentor to us all. He built the technology that made up the ranger system, from the ground up. In a lot of ways, he's responsible for our family."

"And he protected me," said Sarah. "If he hadn't become the Master Ranger, I wouldn't be here either."

"No you wouldn't," said Serena. "He loved each and every one of us, even if he never said it. He showed he loved us and that he loved you, maybe not as much as your parents but definitely as much as the rest of us. The point is, though, that Bakaguru had access to some major firepower, all of which he built into the Master Morpher. Charon's got everything we do, plus who knows what else. We'll figure it out, probably, but those are the odds we're stacked up against."

"We can do it," said Sarah. She smiled, but the expression was fleeting and she lowered her head again. They continued walking down the street, trying hard not to draw attention to themselves. Brock's wheelchair could not be helped, but most people seemed to directly ignore it as they passed. They kept moving, until at last they came upon a hotel that Serena deemed acceptable.

"What do you think?" asked Serena.

The hotel itself was nothing special, but was definitely square in the middle in terms of quality. There was not pool, but the building itself looked renovated. They had the distinct sensation that rooms were not rented for an hour at a time and families were welcome.

"It'll do. Definitely looks like a place a family would hunker down for a night in," said Brock. They headed inside where they located the front desk.

"Welcome to the Palace Goldenrod," said the receptionist. "Will you be checking in today?"

Serena nodded. "We'll be staying the night. How much?"

"Let me see…our family suit is one hundred sixty for one night without a reservation," said the receptionist. "Is that alright?"

Serena nodded. "Sure. My husband can't be counted on to tie his shoes." She turned to Brock and gave him a stern look. "This is your fault. You were the one in charge of the reservations."

"But I—"

Serena shushed him and turned to the receptionist. "That'll be fine." She opened her bag and located a purse containing cash. She paid the receptionist and received a key card to a room. "Thank you very much."

The receptionist bowed. "And thank you for choosing the Palace Goldenrod."

Serena and Sarah wheeled Brock out of the atrium and towards a room on the east side of the building. They found the room, number 326, and Serena quickly got everyone inside. When she clicked the door shut, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Think we're in the clear?" asked Brock, as he positioned himself between the room's two beds.

"Boy, I hope so," she said. "I really, really do."

"Can we try talking to Uncle Max now?" asked Sarah.

Serena nodded and took out Elgyem's Poke Ball. "I'll step into the bathroom and check in on him. Sit tight, kiddo."

The moment Serena stepped into the bathroom, though, Sarah climbed on top of her bed and started sobbing. Brock wheeled himself over, gently rubbing her back.

"It's okay, little Sarah," he whispered. "Everything's going to be alright, you'll see."

"No it won't!" she shouted. "Nothing's going to be okay, and I can't do anything about it."

Brock smiled. "Hey, hey. You're almost eight years old. You're not supposed to be protecting anyone. That's our job."

She glared at him. How had her eyes gotten so red? "I could do it. I could save everybody. But I can't. It won't work. It never works."

"What won't work?" asked Brock.

Sarah looked around, as if to ensure they were not being spied on, then pulled something out of her pocket. "This thing." Brock was not sure what it was, it looked almost like one of the morphers that 0 and Serena wore, except that it was blue. "Dad and Aunt Serry and 415 have them. Before he died, he—Bakaguru…he gave this one to me. He told me it was really strong. He told me to keep it really safe. But it's broken. It won't work. Every time my dad gets in trouble I try to put it on but it won't ever work! It's just…it's just broken." She started crying again. "Why can't I ever help Mom and Dad?"

Brock held up his arms, and she jumped into his chair for a hug. "Listen," he said. "Trust me, I understand how you feel." He grinned, and gestured at his body. "Look at me. I'm stuck in this chair. You don't think it kills me that I can't help your dad out? Back in the day, I would have gladly given up both my arms and legs for him. But, since I've already done that, I've got to make the best with what I've got. I've gotta hide, same as you. But it's not because I'm no good, or I'm not help. You know how you and I really help your dad, Sarah?"

She sniffled. "How?" she asked.

"Because of who we are. We're people your dad loves. Nothing ever changes that. From what I've seen of that morpher he has, it's based on the bond between a Pokemon and his trainer. Well, a hero's strength is based on the people they love. Who they'll fight for. Who they'll win for. That all matters. We matter. We might not be able to turn into superheroes, but we always matter."

"You sure?" she asked. She was holding him so tightly, he could feel her tears on the collar of his shirt.

"I promise, little girl," he said. "Never think you don't matter. Your dad's the strongest guy I know, and we're the reasons he fights. We must be pretty good reasons, right?"

She giggled. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am. I'm a doctor. Now, why don't you go try and get some sleep? Sleep deprivation never solved anything."

Sarah took a few deep breaths, then sat up in Brock's lap. "Okay, Uncle Brock. I'll try." She got off his lap and curled up in the bed sheets. Within minutes, Brock heard her softly snoring.

"That was really sweet." Brock jumped slightly, but realized that it was just Serena. He turned his chair and moved away so as to not disrupt Sarah's rest.

"I used to be her babysitter," Brock explained. "Comes with the uncle territory."

Serena smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're here. I'm not sure I'd know how to help her. Kids aren't exactly my forte."

"Glad to help how I can," said Brock. "Any word for Max?"

She nodded. "He's with 415, both safe and out of sight for now. Looks like everyone's with somebody and in the clear. I think we can relax a little. Maybe get some rest."

"If you want to get some sleep, go ahead," said Brock. "I can stand watch."

Serena smirked. "Sure about that, big boy?"

Brock winced, but managed to make it to his feet. "Yes I am, as a matter of fact," he said, before grabbing his cane for extra stability. "Get some rest. I'm wide awake anyway."

She smirked. "Sure you won't be joining me? It's awfully lonely in this big bed."

"I think I'll take my chances with the chair," he replied with a smirk in return. Serena jumped into the bed and started napping away, leaving Brock to watch the window for signs of activity. He practiced on his balance, finding that he could indeed walk from the window to the minibar to procure some peanuts when he grew hungry.

It was perhaps because he was so focused on the outside that he did not notice it. Neither did Serena nor Sarah, for that matter, as both were asleep. But somehow, impossibly, there was a faint blue light blinking on and off in the room, directly underneath Sarah's sheets.

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"This is uncomfortable," said 415.

Max shrugged. "Serena said we should lay low until we hear otherwise. May as well go."

415 hesitated. "Still, I am uneasy. Alexander Charon and the other Dark Gem are free agents. They destroyed our base. We should be doing something about that, not waiting in line for some trivial film."

The line was surprisingly crowded for a 'trivial film'. They had managed to get there early, but others had not been so lucky. The end of the line was now approaching the other side of the street, with scores of people apparently clamoring to see some kind of film. Max could not help but notice that the line seemed to be disproportionately female, with a few guys in the crowd that looked not one bit happy to be seeing the movie.

"I wonder what this is all for," he said. "What's coming out this week that's got everyone so excited?"

A girl that looked at least ten years younger than Max, with some sort of shirt displaying a message that Max really did not understand, jumped at the chance to relay this information to him. "You don't know?" she screamed, as though Max had just committed sacrilege. "It's the premiere of _Sonata Under the Moonlight_! Don't you know anything?"

415 leaned forward. "What is this…_Sonata Under the Moonlight_?" she asked.

"Oh, it's so great!" she said, at a breakneck speed that jumbled the words together into one when Max heard her. "It's all about this girl named Miriam who gets spirited away by this mysterious billionaire she meets named Bertram Alphonse! And at first he doesn't like her, but then he saves her life and he's always buying her stuff! It's so amaaaaaaaazing!"

415 tilted her head. "I am confused. Is it a farce?"

The girl tilted her own head. "No, stupid. It's going to be the most romantic movie ever made."

Max instantly saw 415 clench her left hand into a fist. "How is it a romance? The woman seems as if she is feebly waiting for the male to do something, creating an unhealthy relationship constantly based on him purchasing her goods. How is it romantic?" she asked.

The girl blew a raspberry. "You just don't get the inner meanings behind it. You must be one of the idiots that are here to see something useless."

"You really don't want to say things like that," said Max, and then he turned to 415. "Please ignore her. She doesn't know what she's saying."

"Oh I know what I'm saying," said the girl. "You think you know something about love because you two are on some stupid date? Please. I know more about love and I'm here by myself."

415 was very quiet, so as few people as possible would hear her. "If you do not stop talking this instant, I will permanently ensure that you are incapable of speaking for the rest of your existence," she said.

"W-What?" The girl had obviously picked up on 415's calm, yet intensely threatening tone.

"Do you know how incredibly simple it is for me to stuff my hand down your throat, seize hold of your tongue, then forcibly extract it without anesthesia?" She lifted her hand to demonstrate. "As you see, my hands are small, comparatively speaking, small enough for your throat anyway. Then, the instant I am done, I will take great satisfaction in depositing your appendage in the nearest waste receptacle. And it will spare me no more thought than the purchase of a small bag of those potato chips that my partner appreciates."

The girl's expression gradually changed, first from a bemused denial to inevitable, terrifying panic as 415 described in explicit detail the exact angles which were the most ideal for removing a tongue. She started to tremble, then to cry, then finally she ran out of the line and into the street, intent on getting as far away from 415 was she was physically able.

Max sighed. "You really shouldn't have done that," he said.

"Why not? She was ruining the date, was she not?"

"Well, she was annoying, sure, but I'm not sure she really needed to be threatened. We could have ignored her."

415 simply stared at him. "It is my intention for this evening to be a success. If we cannot do anything regarding Alexander Charon and Ame, we will succeed here. I will succeed here."

Max smiled, and took her hand gently. "Relax. We can't do anything, so let's just have a nice night out, okay? You don't have to try so hard."

"That is a simplistic viewpoint." She removed her hand. "This entire experience is new to me. I do not have the necessary training. I am in a scenario I was not prepared for."

"We'll be fine. It's just a movie. Look, the line's moving." He gestured forward, and indeed the line was moving at a snail's pace towards the front. "C'mon. Let's go get some good seats."

"Are we seriously contemplating seeing this _Sonata_ nonsense?" asked 415.

Max shrugged. "We could do worse than see a cheesy movie. And if it sucks, we'll just poke fun at it all night. You can criticize to your heart's content around hundreds of people that love this stuff."

415 seemed to relax. "Well, I suppose that would be entertaining."

They followed the line, eventually securing some tickets for a theater on the far side of the building. They followed the herd of fan girls and took two seats to the back of the room so as not to sit next to too many of them. There was entirely too much squealing in the auditorium, leaving Max quite content with the fact that he had mostly missed out on popular culture since he'd gotten the Dark Emerald.

He tried to drown out the noise, but 415 seemed fascinated by her surroundings. She was on the edge of her seat training her eyes on almost anyone that even considered moving.

"You scouting the place out?" he asked. "There's no point, the Dark Emerald's quiet."

She shook her head. "No. I was observing the audience. They appear to be quite animated, yet are they not aware that their city is frequently attacked by the Dark Gems. Should they not be on alert?"

Max shrugged. "Doesn't 0 tell Jenny to keep most of it out of the press? I think they just think weird stuff just happens sometimes."

"Does that not concern them? Do they not wish to investigate?"

Max shook his head. "You know people better than most. Didn't you used to dress up as a fat nerd?"

"It was a cover."

"Well, what happened when you went out in the cover disguise?"

"People would avoid me, often ignore me completely."

"Exactly. People hate weird. They avoid it. They like things to be copasetic. Take a look at the people here. They're all ignoring us because we're not part of their subgroup. These seats might as well not even be there for all they notice."

415 considered the information. "I suppose your point has merit. However, if there are no desires for change, then how are there investigators? How are there police? How can people who search for contrarians exist?"

Max shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? Maybe that's a little subgroup too. Can't we just accept that everybody's weird?"

415 rested her head against the back of her chair. "I just prefer when things are easily categorized. Much simpler to handle."

"Eh, you're still taking your baby steps. The real world is still a scary place for you."

She turned to him with a droll expression. "Do not make me snap your neck in the middle of all these witnesses. I do not wish to deal with the fallout of explaining to an audience of belligerent children why you are technically immortal."

"Have I mentioned how attractive you are when you threaten?" asked Max. 415 hesitated, and Max smirked. "Admit it, you're having fun. You get to see humans in their natural habitat with me, Max Birch." He put his legs up on the seat in front of him. "Doesn't get much better than this."

She abruptly smacked his legs and forced them to the floor. "Do not do that. It is considered impolite."

Max just grinned as the lights in the theater dimmed, indicating that the film would soon begin. Almost immediately, screams of delight rained down through the auditorium as the first preview began screening.

"Why are they making all that noise?" whispered 415. "I thought the darkness suggested that we are to be silent."

"They're just excited. They might have been waiting for this movie for years."

The first preview for some type of action movie played, and both Max and 415 found it uninteresting due to its unrealistic representation of the action sequences. Both had experienced combat a thousand times more interesting than half the obviously computerized explosions that filled the screen.

The second trailer was not much better. It was a romantic comedy of some sorts revolving around a man driving across the country to reunite with his girlfriend. 415 could not understand the premise of a long-distance relationship. Max did not understand why the man simply did not just fly to the location.

Eventually the movie started.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"Found them."

Charon, for some reason known only to Charon, was perched on the ledge of the building instead of standing next to the stairwell like a normal person. Ame glanced around and waited for him to explain his discovery.

When he did not, Ame simply asked, "Where are they?"

Charon pointed somewhere in the distance. "Over there. There's a morpher signal… Ooh, that's interesting!"

"What is it?" asked Ame.

"I didn't know they had that one. Thought it got lost in the fire. Huh, learn something new every day." He sat up and jumped off the ledge. "The Ranger Blue morpher is ringing. Not sure why, but they probably have that one too. Better go pick it up, it probably isn't active."

"Why would they have an inactive morpher?" asked Ame.

"And how am I supposed to know that?" he retorted. "Do I have some sort of magic psychic ability that lets me see into the inner workings of the human mind? Do you have any idea how easy this would be if I could do that? Geez, get your head in the game. Come on, we've gotta go get them."

"I cannot. I have another appointment."

"What other appointment?"

She stared at him. "We have discussed this. Your assignment is to handle the PKM Rangers. Mine is to handle Eme. Do you not believe yourself capable of combating those meager rangers? Is your technology not adequate?"

Charon shrugged. "Thought Dark Gems worked in pairs."

Ame glared at him. "Some do, Alexander Charon. It is because they are weak and will not survive alone. I assure you that I have never needed a second body to drag along with me."

"Sheesh, fine. I'll deal with them on my own. Not like I can't."

"Splendid. Happy hunting, Alexander Charon." Then she vanished into thin air, leaving the monster alone with his thoughts.

"Not like I can't," he repeated. He could hear something faint in his head, the sound of something screaming in the distance. He looked at his morpher and the Dark Ruby set in the center of it. "You trying to tell me something?" he asked. It screamed at him again.

"Blood…flesh?" he asked. Then he nodded. "Oh, I can do that, little buddy." He briefly considered jumping down from the rooftop into the street, then thought better of the idea and took the fire escape instead. It did not matter either way, as the signal was not moving in the slightest.

Still…it was confusing. "Why would they leave something like that on?" he wondered aloud, confusing a pair of men waiting at the nearby bus stop. "I mean, it could be a trap. Or it could just be someone being stupid. No, if it were a trap it would have been turned off. Besides, how can they trap me? I have their mentor's morpher."

The bus came and he got on with the men. He took a seat behind them. "Maybe they're trying to turn it on," he said. His voice was growing increasingly more frantic. "Maybe it's their last shot to get me and they're trying to turn it on with someone and it's not working. And now they're panicking and everyone's going crazy trying to get it on before I get there."

The men exchanged glances. Charon noticed and leaned forward. "Got a question, buddies?" he asked. He took perhaps too long in staring at them and they awkwardly looked away.

"No," said one. "Just looking out for our stop."

"Oh? Oh that's too bad," said Charon. He pressed the Dark Ruby and felt his fancy new armor form all around him. "I'd love to tell you, but I'm afraid I'm going to be far too busy to tell such a complicated story."

They screamed, as did everyone else. Charon tried not to take it personally and conked their skulls together. They fell to the floor in a heap, so Charon climbed over their chair in the direction of the driver, whose eyes widened in the rearview mirror as he saw Charon advance.

"P-Please," he whispered, "don't."

Charon clapped him on the back. "Don't what, my means of transport? I can't kill you! It would take way too long to get where I'm going by walking! No, just follow my directions and everyone leaves a happy chappy! Understand?"

The bus driver nodded and followed Charon's instructions, very calmly making it to an insignificant hotel on the other side of town. Charon, cool as a cucumber, thanked the driver merrily for all his hard work, then disembarked the bus and watched it tear through the traffic in an effort to put as much distance between itself and Charon as possible. Charon waved before turning his attention onto the hotel. He could tell exactly where they were, so he casually walked along the perimeter of the establishment until he came to the spot of the building where the signal was the strongest.

"Time to make some noise," he murmured, and he smashed through the dark windows and entered the room.

The response was not as quick as he would have hoped. He distinctly heard someone fall down, and noticed a giant man with dark skin sprawled on the floor reaching for a cane. On the bed nearest to him was 0's brat, the little girl holding something flashy in her hands. On the other side of the room, the tiny woman with the silver hair was already reaching for her morpher.

"Ah," he said. "You weren't getting ready for me." He looked towards the little girl, who was already in the process of hiding her precious toy. "You were just stupid and trusted a little girl with one of the most powerful pieces of technology ever invented." He held out his hand. "Give it here, little pup, and I promise this will all be over in the blink of an eye."

"What's he talking about?" asked Serena.

Sarah buried her head in her hands. "It's the morpher Bakaguru gave to me. He told me to keep it safe! I turned it on by mistake and didn't know! I thought we were safe!"

Charon wagged his finger. "Never safe, love. Never safe from me. Now give it here."

"Don't you dare, Sarah!" shouted Brock from the floor. "Your dad wouldn't do it, no matter what. Don't let him have anything!"

"That's enough out of you," he said. He stomped down hard on Brock's left leg, but nothing happened. No snapping of bone, no ripping of muscle. Just a slight ping and then a mild twinge vibrated up Charon's own leg. "Hmmmm…how strange. Metal?"

"Best there is," said Brock. He lifted his leg and delivered a kick that slammed into Charon's crotch and launched him out of the shattered window. He scampered to his feet. "Didn't know I could do that. Adrenaline?"

"And hydraulics," said Serena with a smirk. She transformed immediately. "You and Sarah need to get that morpher out of here. Rescue Mode ought to be enough to stall him." She switched to said mode immediately, and the temperature began plummeting.

Sarah shook her head. "No! Uncle Brock, we're not going without Aunt Serry!"

"I'm with the kid, we can't just—"

"This isn't up for discussion!" She released Darmanitan and Elgyem from their Poke Balls. "I'll contact 0 with Elgyem and use Darmanitan as backup for now, but that morpher is important and so are the two of you! Neither of you are any good to me here nor am I not good to you if you stay here much longer! Now go!"

"But Aunt Serry—" Sarah was interrupted by Brock grabbing her and hauling her over his shoulders. "Aunt Serry!"

Brock glared at Serena. "Better make it back," he said. "This doesn't count as a date."

She gave him a thumb's up. "I've had worse dates," she replied, then turned towards the window. Charon was climbing back through. "Go!"

Brock tried to put Sarah's screaming out of his head as he stumbled out of the room, hoping that the adrenaline coursing through his system would be enough to keep his balance and momentum working for him.

"Please!" Sarah screamed. "Please go back for her!"

"We can't help her!" shouted Brock. "We'd just be in the way!"

"If I could morph, I could help! If I could morph, I could be more than just someone that always needs saving!"

Brock reached a corridor and ducked through it. When he felt he had enough distance between himself and the fight he lowered Sarah. "Listen," he said. "That doesn't change anything. You don't have a Pokemon registered to you to make that morpher work."

She looked at him through her tears. "If not me, then who?" she asked. "Who, Uncle Brock!? I don't want Charon to kill Aunt Serry too! Someone needs to save her for once!"

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"I understood exactly none of that."

Max and 415 were walking now, moving through the crowds of people and towards the emergency packs they had hidden in a small factory a few blocks south from the theater. Everyone around them was jabbering loudly, inhibiting any real conversation not punctuated with a torrent of squeals.

"I was really with it until the guy just started obsessing over that girl," said Max. "Don't think the movie made enough effort to establish her as a human being."

"Indeed," said 415. "She reminded me of a mobile hunk of wood."

"That's an insult to most Sudowoodo," said Max.

415's face flickered briefly into a smile. "Amusing, Dark Gem."

They reached the factory and quickly climbed over the security perimeter, taking care to avoid the cameras positioned along the walls. It took a little bit of maneuvering, but the two of them were inside the factory in two minutes.

They took three steps forward into the atrium before Max stopped and growled. "What?" asked 415. "Is your Dark Gem reacting to something?"

He nodded and pulled out his pulsating gem. "Somebody's in there. Either Ame or Charon, I'm not sure which."

"Proceed forward. Can you pinpoint their location?"

Max closed his eyes and arched his brows. After a moment, he pointed forward, directly into the manufacturing center of the factory. "In there. Where we stashed our gear."

"Splendid. Prepare for battle. If they are waiting, perhaps we can distract them with conversation to better formulate our plan."

Max led 415 into the room, where there was indeed a person waiting for them. Ame stood, almost casually, in the center of the room, cradling her Dark Gem in her fingers. She dangled it this way and that on the length of her chain. When she saw them, her purple eyes lit up and she offered them a slight smile.

"Ranger Black," she said, "and Eme. So good to see you again. I was hoping to run into you."

"Pleasure's all ours," said Max. "Don't suppose we could all leave peacefully?"

Ame rolled her eyes. "Our encounters serve as evidence that we will not, little Eme," she said. "But, for once, this time our conflict stands to profit me. You see, this is my final mission. When we are done here, my contract will be completed. There will be nothing more for me to do."

"Really? And what might your contract entail, Dark Gem?" asked 415. Her fingers were casually grazing her morpher's trigger.

Ame spotted this, and wagged a finger at 415. "Now now, we do not need to resort to such unpleasantness so quickly," she said. "We can have the conversation you seem intent on having. I presume it is so you might discern a way to defeat me? Are you not intelligent enough to come at me as you are?"

"Do not bother with such tactics," said 415. "They may work on the brute, but I do not have an ego to bruise."

"Very well, Ranger Black. My story is for little Eme anyway." She turned and narrowed her gaze on Max, who involuntarily found his chain wrapping along the length of his arm. "Now, little Eme, shall I tell you how you came to be?"

Max tilted his head, confused. "What're you talking about?" he asked. "My birth? Uh, my mom and dad loved each other, and one thing led to another, and—"

Ame held up her arm. "Please. Your parents' copulation is the least of my interests. I refer to the day you became Eme, and Max Birch ceased to be. Do you recall your second birth? Do you recall who is responsible for it?"

Max's eyes flashed green. "Sappho," he said. "He's the one who killed Gallade. He made the sacrifice that activated my Dark Gem." He was starting to get angry.

Ame smirked. "Close, but not quite. Sap was always such a weak little demon. He was incapable of even the simplest of assignments. He needed guiding and nurturing to complete anything. Would it shock you, little Eme, if I told you that I told him to kill your Gallade? That I made the decision to forge you into a Dark Gem Ranger?"

"Dark Gem, she lies," said 415. "Do not let her provoke you into conflict."

Max bared his teeth. "You weren't there," he said confidently. "Sappho was there, not you. There's no way you could have directed him the way you're saying you did. You're trying to throw me off my game."

Ame smiled. "Before Sap killed your Pokemon, you met someone. A woman named Verity, yes? Does that name ring a bell?"

Max froze. The name did ring a bell, but…no. "It's impossible. There's no way."

"What is she talking about?" asked 415.

"Before the attack at _Petal_, I met a girl. But she didn't look anything like you!" Max turned to Ame and his eyes flashed. "That doesn't have anything to do with this!"

"Oh, but it does." Ame smiled, and suddenly her hair curled and her nose softened. It was such a subtle change, but it was her. "I was Verity. I marked you for Sap. I chose you to wield the Dark Emerald. I made you Eme. I killed your Pokemon."

"Remain calm!" warned 415. "She is attempting to provoke you into conflict. We must radio Ranger Gold and the others for backup."

Ame shook her head. "No, Ranger Black, you will not. I am here for him and no one else. I am here to fight the master of the Dark Emerald and fulfill my contract. That is the only thing that is going to happen today."

415 turned to Max, whose face was lowered. She could see the tints of green aura around him. "Dark Gem," she said, "do not—"

"Quiet," he growled. "Please, quiet." He then lifted his head and looked at Ame. "Then answer me this: why me? There were hundreds of people at that spa. Maybe a thousand. You didn't have to take me. You didn't have to take Gallade. You had your pick of people who would be easier to control. There must be a reason."

Ame nodded. "Very astute, Eme. You were chosen for my own reasons. Perhaps if you succeed in defeating me, you may learn those reasons."

"No." Max shook his head. "You explain it to me right now, or we're done here."

Ame tilted her head. "And what suggests that I will comply with such a request?"

Max grinned. "Because you found us," he explained. "You were waiting for us, you let your Dark Gem signal you were here. You had any chances to kill us, but you decided to wait. You want a duel, not an ambush. So spill, or we're getting out of here. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of you guys trying to get me. I'm tired of you hurting my friends. So what is it, Ame? What is it that makes you tick?"

"You really want to know?" she asked.

"I'm not going to fight you until I do," he said.

"Fine, Eme. You are correct. I do want a duel. I require a duel with the master of the Dark Emerald because of my own Dark Gem." She dangled her little purple stone between her fingers. "My Dark Amethyst can activate briefly, even without needing to transform, but it can only obtain its full power when alongside the Dark Emerald. They are two halves to the same coin. The Dark Emerald received the raw power, while the Dark Amethyst received the raw potential. Without your light, I cannot truly fight. Without my light, you will never achieve your true potential."

"So you fight me, and then what?"

Ame smirked. "One of us absorbs the other. The survivor will gain dominion over light and darkness. One of us receives a power strong enough to rival my employers."

"And what's in it for you if you get this power?" asked Max. "You keep saying your contract ends tonight. What good is infinite power if you plan on retiring?"

"I will survive oblivion. I will endure with my employers beyond the oblivion that they plan to bring to this world."

"Their plan is to destroy the world?"

Ame's chain began wrapping around her legs and waist. "You think so small, Eme. I hope you plan to bring more than that to our duel." She gently pressed the stone into her flesh. "_Dark Gem, Ignite_." The light in the air dimmed as it rushed into her and transformed her into Sealed Form.

"Fine." Max wrapped his chains up and squeezed the Dark Emerald. "_Dark Gem Ignite_!"

When Max's own light dimmed down, he noticed 415 preparing to transform. "Wait," he said. "This is my fight. I can handle this."

She brushed him away. "Please, Dark Gem. This woman aims to consume you. Do you think I intend to stand by and let that happen? Besides…" He saw that little smile on her face before she licked her lips. "She said she wishes to duel the master of the Dark Emerald. That person is me." She pressed down the trigger on her morpher and her ranger armor clamped down onto her body.

Ame tilted her head. "Very well. The both of you then." And she charged.

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…_**.Twenty-Five Years Ago…**_

With a sharp outburst, Arthur pounded his fists on an adjacent table. "They've rejected the funding! Again!" He was absolutely livid, and had been pacing around the room for at least five minutes. This declaration was, in fact, the third time he had shouted it across the small dormitory he shared with Bakaguru and Terry. Terry was in the nearby bunk bed, trying desperately to sleep after his day of physical training. Bakaguru found himself having to constantly turn away from his computer to discuss the matter.

"Did they at least give a reason for the refusal?" he asked. "Maybe it's something wrong with the way we're presenting the idea. It is relatively radical."

Arthur stared at him. "You can't be serious. You of all people should know what this could do to the entire organization. We would be revolutionaries. Heroes who created armor to keep our soldiers safe."

"Did they give a reason?"

Arthur shrugged. "Father said it had something to do with the budget that would be required to even field-test the designs. Basically the Council didn't understand most of the lingo you used when you wrote the proposal for the container. I told you that you should have let me handle that."

"You have no understanding of the quantum physics required to draft the proposal," Bakaguru pointed out.

Arthur shrugged. "So? That's half of the problem right there. The Council didn't understand it in the terms you presented. You need to be less formal and more understanding when talking to the Council. They didn't get to where they are by having doctorates in nuclear physics or quantum biology or experimental toasters. They got to where they are because they fund this operation. They aren't exactly the dream team in the noodle department."

"Do you guys mind?" asked Terry. Both of them turned to look at the now very-irritated Terry who sat up in his bunk and yawned. "I've got emergency response training at four in the morning tomorrow, and I'd appreciate some shuteye. Somebody's gotta learn to protect you smartypants scientists while you do all your inventing."

"Explain it to him," said Arthur.

"What?" asked Bakaguru. "He understands the theory."

Arthur shook his head. "You misunderstand. If you write it in terms Terry can understand, the Council will understand it too. You didn't have to dumb it down for Terry, right?"

"It required some different examples, but the basic message was unchanged," said Bakaguru.

"Then rewrite the draft and have him look at it. If he doesn't get what you're saying, it's too smart and you need to go back to the drawing board. If he gets it, it's ready to be presented to the Council next time they meet."

"That could work," said Bakaguru. "What do you think, Terry?"

Terry shrugged, and then returned to his resting position. "I'm a fan of anything that gets you all good and quiet so I can sleep." He immediately shut his eyes and started snoring.

"Does he always have to do that?" asked Bakaguru. "I'm thinking of investing in a set of noise-cancelling headphones."

"You try rolling that lummox on his side," said Arthur. "But he does have a point. We should turn in for the night. Leave the rewrite for tomorrow. We might as well take our time. We've got six months before we can resubmit."

Bakaguru glanced at the screen wearily. He was indeed quite sleepy, and he had been working on the computer for almost the entire day. "Perhaps some rest is in order," he agreed, and yawned deeply. "You're right, Arthur. We have plenty of time to plan our next submission."

Arthur grinned. "Glad to hear it. I'll catch you guys later."

Bakaguru grinned. "The perks of being a Logan know no bounds. Can you at least arrange some noise proof curtains around Terry's bed?"

"Sorry, no can do." Arthur saluted and then headed out, back to his own lavish room that was not partially occupied by a snoring Terry.

Bakaguru shut the door behind Arthur and stretched his arms. He headed to his own bed, beside the light switch, and shut it off as he climbed into his bed sheets.

"Hey, Bakaguru?" asked Terry, having suddenly woken.

Bakaguru shut his eyes. "Yes?"

"Had a question I wanted to float your way," said Terry.

"Uh-huh," said Bakaguru.

"If the armor gets built, what happens afterwards?"

Bakaguru turned his head to face where Terry was lying across the room. "What do you mean? If the armor gets built then we get promoted. We get to have safer agents. Less casualties. Less families with soldiers who died in the line of duty."

"Yeah, but what happens to the other side?"

"Other side?"

"Think about it," said Terry. "We build the armor, that's awesome. But even if we're supposed to hate the other side, what's stopping them from trying to replicate the technology? We kick their butts the first time, then they come back with better, more powerful armor. Then we have a new giant war with super soldiers trying to outdo each other. How's it any different from our guns, or our Pokemon, if it just leads to everyone having super soldiers?"

Bakaguru thought for a moment. "I hadn't considered that," he admitted. "If we receive the grant, we start building. We start building, we make the armor. We make the armor, we test the armor. We test the armor, our enemies see the armor. You're right, there's nothing to stop them from infiltrating us and stealing the design."

"Unless we don't give it to everyone," said Terry. "If we give it to just a few people, and make the design so no one can have it without us, we make sure the armor stays in the right hands."

"A failsafe," said Bakaguru. "How could we do it?"

Terry grunted. "Maybe a DNA synch? Maybe voice control? Ooh, we could have it so the device stays permanently attached to the user's body, and it'll deactivate once someone tries to remove it."

"We can't do the last one. The device is a backpack. People won't be too pleased about being permanently attached to a backpack."

"Eh, when it's portable we can use that failsafe. I think a DNA sample would be fine for ours."

"It would require an onboard computer system. That will increase the size of the backpack."

"Think a few extra pounds would be worth the extra security," said Terry. He turned around. "Going to bed. Night." Then he was asleep again.

Bakaguru spent a very long time trying to get to sleep, as a mixture of feelings prevented him from settling in for the night. He was annoyed at their failure, irritated by the Council's stupidity, and bewildered by Terry's concerns. And, when he did fall asleep, he did not dream so much as wake up in another world.

He found himself in a war, which confused him as he had never been to war before. True, he had seen many war films and undergone basic training, but they had been nothing like this. The noise was too loud. The lights from the explosions were entirely too bright and seared his eyes. He buried his face in his arms and waited for the noise to die down.

When it did, he looked up and saw perfection.

A man stood in front of him, a man covered in armor, armor exactly as Bakaguru had envisioned it, right down to the helmet, the glove design, the armor plating, everything. He was covered in glittering, beautiful gold and black. The man looked down on him, and almost seemed to smile beneath the visor.

"What is this?" asked Bakaguru. "This doesn't feel like a dream."

"You are my creator?" asked the figure, with a seemingly amused chuckle. "I would have thought you taller."

"If I were taller, I wouldn't have had to become an inventor," quipped Bakaguru.

There was a smidgen of a chuckle underneath his visor. "You speak well," he said. "You will do quite nicely."

"What is this?" asked Bakaguru. "I'm sorry, but this doesn't feel very much like a dream."

The figure tilted his head. "You may be right, Bakaguru Niwa. I certainly seem more than dream, do I not?" He shifted his body to admire it. "The simple truth is that there is no way to tell. Dreams and premonitions are tricky things to differentiate."

Bakaguru nodded. "Then what are you?"

"I? I am your creation, born of your mind, your blood, your toil. I am the armor you sought to create."

"You speak well for a hunk of metal," said Bakaguru.

The armor shrugged. "A reflection of yourself. I am what you are."

"Are you saying I should build one of these for myself?"

"That hardly concerns a figment of your imagination like me."

The two of them stood there momentarily, while bombs dropped all around the battlefield. Bakaguru looked to the left and saw soldiers, PKM's soldiers, advancing up the cliff toward a tower covered in machine guns. He watched them ripped to shreds, without a single man or woman left standing. Yet he stayed perfectly safe, in a little bubble with the armor. The bullets simply disappeared the instant they approached him.

"Why can't they hurt me?" asked Bakaguru.

"You? The engineer? What would you be doing on the front lines like this? No, you would be safe in a bunker, creating weapons out of scrap with your team. There would be no need for you in a place like this."

"But those people…I know they're just pieces of my dream, but I—you could have saved them." Bakaguru clenched his hands into fists. "I have your designs. You could have saved all of them."

"But I let them die. Why am I not being used?"

Bakaguru thought. "Because of what Terry said. Because he's right. Escalating the conflict will only result in more bloodshed. It's a short-term solution that will create a long-term problem. The system would be too powerful Mankind is not ready for it."

"But those people will die without it. What to do, Bakaguru Niwa? What to do?"

"If I release the system, everything escalates and people die. If I don't, agents that risk their lives will find themselves in even more danger." Bakaguru rubbed his eyes. "Is there no end to this riddle? How do we control a weapon once it is released? How does anyone?"

The armor shrugged. "A million dollar question, to be sure."

"Wait." Bakaguru's eyes gleamed. "What if it was controlled by us? What if it required authorization by me specifically? Or the person in charge? Someone who would use it for the right reasons? And any attempt to hack it would destroy the system. It would provide a failsafe that would keep the technology in my hands alone, to choose the few that would wield it."

"Maybe it would work. Maybe not." The armor chuckled. "I suppose there is no way to know for sure. Safety only goes so far. Eventually you have to trust people with their own future."

"Bakaguru! Bakaguru, wake up!"

Bakaguru's vision of the gleaming armor faded into an image of Terry's concerned expression. He blinked thrice, then groaned. "Terry, what is it?" he asked, rubbing his brow. "I was in the middle of—"

"No time! We gotta go!" He literally hauled Bakaguru out of the bed and straightened him out.

"Hang on! What's going on?"

"Orders! Just got them sent in over the speakers! We're being deployed. Grab your gear, Arthur already said he'd meet us out at the launch pads."

Now incredibly irritated, there was nothing to be done but prepare a small bag of supplies and follow Terry down the corridors with the rest of the cadets. Terry managed to find Arthur hanging by one of the helicopters and made sure to procure positions for all three of them. They boarded the machine and strapped themselves in to brace for takeoff.

"This doesn't make sense!" shouted Arthur. "What are we doing here? We're Research and Development!"

Bakaguru shrugged. "Maybe they need weapon developers wherever we're going." He turned to Terry. "They didn't happen to mention where we were headed, did they?"

Terry shook his head. "Just that it was a full-scale deployment. Everybody's going."

"Well then, odds are good we've been asked to quell some sort of war," said Bakaguru. "Just perfect. All of the material and funds we need are back here on base. How are we supposed to build anything wherever we're going?"

Arthur shrugged. "We're just going to have to salvage. There's nothing to be done about it. My father couldn't even pull the strings to get me out of here, we're hardly going to get air drops with our research equipment."

Bakaguru groaned. "Why aren't we being told where we're going? We're going to find out once we land. What's the point of keeping it from us?"

Terry shrugged. "Who knows why they do anything? We just need to stay calm and keep our heads down. Only way we're going to wrangle enough material to build the suits."

Bakaguru watched the helicopter take off. He rarely flew, it had always been an uncomfortable experience he had avoided at all costs, mostly through driving or by taking trains. The unpleasant feeling of being lifted into the air, with nothing to support him, returned, and he fought back the urge to vomit.

"Hey." Bakaguru looked up as Terry reached into his satchel to retrieve a box of pills. "Motion sickness, huh? Here you go." He produced a small blue pill and handed it to Bakaguru. "Go on. Takes a while to kick in, but it'll help make the trip easier."

Bakaguru accepted the pill and swallowed it. He didn't feel better, but just the fact that he knew he had medicine working its way into his body allowed him to sit up straight, even if he couldn't quite look at everything around him.

"Thank you," he said.

Terry grinned. "Don't mention it. Now how's about we figure out a way to build those contraptions of yours?"

Arthur agreed. "Complaining won't solve our problems. We'd better figure out a real way to enact your plan, Bakaguru. If we're really heading into a war zone, the others are going to be in real danger." He put his hand out. "No matter what, we will give them the armor to protect our people. We will save them."

Terry grinned and put his hand on top of Arthur's. "I'm in. How about you, big boy?"

Bakaguru grinned. "I would think my answer obvious." He put his hand in with them. "We're in it together, until the end."


	39. Morph 39

**Author's Note:** Please enjoy the **third chapter** in my four-part posting this evening.

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**Morph Thirty-Nine: True Blue to the Rescue**

"Poor, poor Eme," whispered Ame. "Having trouble?"

Max charged yet again, raising his transformed left hand. Mightyena's jaws snapped at thin air yet again, as Ame danced through her tangible form once more. She phased out her chest and stomach so Ma's hand would pass through her, then lifted her own fist to knock him on the ground. 415 got behind her and grabbed Ame's arms, but she simply phased again and sent 415 sprawling.

Max jumped back up to his feet. "Not a chance," he grunted. "415, you alright?"

"I am unaffected," she replied and rose from the floor. "We require strategy."

"There is no strategy that will help you," said Ame. "I am a perfect soul. You cannot harm a perfect soul."

"You're no saint," grumbled Max. He threw another punch, that Ame simply dodged, but then he threw another, and another, trying to reach any piece of her that was tangible. "You've killed. You've maimed. You've done terrible things. What gives you the right to think you're perfect like—"

"You?" she asked, and phased through him to get behind him. "You are not so special. You kill. You maim. The question is only who you believe deserves to be killed. I have never touched any of your friends personally."

"That's a big stretch!" He grunted, and ignored the fact that Ame had dug her boot into his kidney. He spun around and grabbed for her. He caught one piece of her and swung her across the room. "You just stood there and let it happen! Nothing you say is going to make me feel sorry for you! Boo hoo, I'm a bad guy! You had a choice! I had one!"

Ame simply floated back down to the ground, using her intangible form to drift through the air. "You think that is due to your resolve? Your courage?" She shook her head. "You retain your freedom because of me, little Eme. If I had not had a hand in your creation, you would be standing by my side massacring this woman you care for. This weak and feeble human that would die by your side."

Mightyena's jaws snapped and it licked its teeth. "Liar. You think I would hurt my family?" asked Max. "Not a chance in the world."

Ame tilted her head. "Your definition of family is hardly original," she replied. She ran towards him and he watched her hand pass through his armor before he could move. "Where is Max Birch? Is he here?" He could feel, but at the same time not feel, his hand tightening around his heart. "If I materialize here, will he die? Or should I take his mind? Would that do the trick? Or…" Her visor hovered in front of the gleaming Dark Emerald on his chest. "Is this all that Max Birch is? Where does he end, and you begin, little Eme?"

"Dark Gem, brace for impact!" Max looked up, only to see 415 swing her Magnet Mace in a wide arc over her head and hurl the weapon directly towards Ame. The Dark Amethyst Ranger phased just before it touched her and it caught Max full in the chest, sending him flying into the wall. Then, just as suddenly as it arrived, the Magnet Mace faintly glowed and tore through the air, right back into the waiting grasp of its owner.

Max coughed under his helmet and climbed to his feet. "Much obliged," he muttered.

"As I suspected," said 415. "Dark Gem, she only has minimal control over her phasing! The remainder is an unconscious impulse that she cannot stop. She has to phase the moment her body perceives a threat, whether she wants to or not."

"…Perceptive," said Ame in a low voice. "I see your operation does have some intelligence behind it. No matter, the information does not aid you in any way."

"Incorrect," said 415. "There must be a finite amount of energy inside your Dark Amethyst." She turned to Max. "Focus your attacks on keeping her phased for longer periods of time. If the plan works, her energy will be drained to the point where she will be unable to continue and we will have an opening."

Max nodded and rushed forward. He kept his distance, constantly swiping at Ame to keep her phased. 415 had been right. Ame struggled, trying to move away, which was made even more difficult by the fact that 415 joined Max in keeping her phased, not giving her a moment's respite.

"Is it working?" Max shouted. He released Grovyle to absorb its body and morph his arm into a replica of its face. He fired Bullet Seed at the Dark Amethyst Ranger.

"Her movements are growing more erratic," announced 415. "We may be able to—"

Ame materialized herself just long enough to smash Max's neck into pulp. Max dropped to the ground and began gurgling while he waited for his neck to regenerate. He twitched, and 415 halted her assault for just a brief moment.

A brief moment that Ame needed. She bent over Max and pressed her boot against Max's neck. "I doubt he will move if I continue to break his neck," she said. "Do not move, or his head will come off."

415 froze. "Remove yourself from him," she ordered.

Ame tilted her head. "No, I think not, Ranger Black. Why not let me kill him? Is he not just a filthy Dark Gem like I? I thought your little group sought an end to our kind."

"I…" 415 looked down on Max, feeble Max who was trying so hard to breathe with his shattered windpipe. "He is not your kind," she decided. "He is not your kind. He is mine. He is my Dark Gem and you will relinquish him to me!"

Max faintly heard a soft humming flow through the air. His neck was strong enough to shift just enough to the left so he could see a giant cloud of steam escaping from her neck, arms, and leggings. Her armor was folding back, revealing soft blue glowing plates of energy between the black sections of her suit.

"What is that?" asked Ame.

The transformation concluded and 415 observed herself. She lifted her hand to see the faint glow on her fingers, then she turned and looked back at Ame. "Rescue Mode," she replied. "It appears you have triggered enough motivation for me to activate it."

"You required motivation?"

"Most do not. They require a bond between ranger spirit and ranger. However, my ranger system was modified by Bakaguru Niwa before his death to function only in the event certain conditions were met with my life support monitoring equipment."

"What conditions?"

"If I may be clichéd, I believe he designed my system to activate upon a realization of 'love'," she explained. "It does not matter at any rate. What matters is its function and that it is active."

"What can it possibly do to stop me?"

The lights glowed just a little bit brighter. "A demonstration would be more useful than a description," she replied. Ame was forced to phase out of corporeality when a metal pipe fell from the ceiling right through her body. Then the pipe shot back up, floating in midair through her body, keeping her phased. Ame was forced to run away from it, allowing Max time to finally recover.

415 approached him and offered a hand. "Must I do this all on my own, Dark Gem?" she asked, with a hint of sarcasm in the tone of her voice.

Max took her arm and hoisted himself back onto his feet. "Does this mean you're in love with me?" he asked.

"Please do not make me behead you," she retorted. "Concentrate on the task at hand."

"So what is this new thing? Something with magnets?"

"Correct," she replied. "It appears the plates can generate electromagnetic fields, granting me the ability to control metal. Now come, it appears the battle will shortly turn in our favor."

"Is that what you think is going to happen?" asked Ame. "You think a simple upgrade is enough to save you? Let me be clear: you pathetic weaklings have tried and tried so hard to stop us, and you keep thinking that upgrading your powers is the key to defeating me? When your Ranger Gold stopped Top, did his newfound powers save him from Dia? Your powers do not make you capable of defeating us." She clicked her claws together. "We are stronger than you. We are faster than you. And I am done pretending you have any chance of leaving here alive."

She ran towards them and, before they could stop her, she phased both of her hands inside their bodies. Ame's left hand pierced the Dark Emerald, freezing Max in his tracks, and Ame's left hand phased through and surrounded 415's still-beating heart.

"If I return to corporeality, do you know what will happen?" she asked. "Your molecules will move to accommodate mine. The Dark Emerald will explode. Your heart will burst. And this will be over."

Max grinned underneath his visor. "But you're not corporeal," he said. He fell backwards, just fast enough to dodge the hand. 415 followed suit, just barely avoiding the loss of her heart.

"We're at a stalemate, Ame," said Max. "You can try that trick again, but we're not just going to stand around waiting for you to explode our chests. And you're just going to keep phasing. The difference is that we can keep moving, but you're going to run out of steam."

"Interesting hypothesis," she retorted. "Care to put it to the test?"

415 twirled her weapon into attack position. "Gladly," she murmured.

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They were out of time.

Brock knew that the fire was going to catch up to them. He could still hear the fighting going on upstairs, so he knew that Serena was still holding off that monster Charon. He knew that the ranger systems had a life support system built into their suits, so the fire would not harm her. But it was going to harm him, and it would eventually harm Sarah, who was currently holding on to him as tightly as he could manage.

Brock lowered himself until he was on eye level with the little girl. "Come on, Sarah," he said. "We need to get out of here."

Sarah shook her head. "Not until Aunt Serry is safe!" she shouted.

Brock looked anxiously at the door. He had locked them in the bathroom and done what he could to lock it, but the smoke was starting to creep in underneath the little space near the floor. "We don't have that option. We need to wait for your dad. He can help her. We can't."

"We can," Sarah insisted and pulled out the blue morpher. "If we can turn this on, we can go and help her. Bakaguru promised that it was strong enough."

"Bakaguru promised it was strong enough to fight someone he hadn't met before?" asked Brock.

"You know what I mean! He said it was the strongest, even stronger than Dad's."

"From what I hear, that's sort of hard to do," said Brock.

"Dad has a lot of gadgets," Sarah explained. "But Bakaguru said that this one was as strong as Dad on his own, stronger even! We just need a Pokemon to turn it on!"

"Well, it's not going to be you," said Brock. "You don't have a Pokemon registered to you, you're not old enough. Why does it need a Pokemon?"

Sarah shrugged. "Everybody just uses Pokemon. It makes a suit based off the 'ranger spirit' or something. Is that why I can't turn it on? It blinks when I touch it."

Brock took the morpher from her. "Look," he said, "we can't rely on this. Even if you got this to work, even if you transformed, what could you do? You're a little girl, Sarah. You're not a superhero. You've handled more than most your age, I'll give you that, but you're still a kid. You're almost nine. You can't do an adult's job. I want to save Serena as much as you do, but you're not going to be the one to do it!"

Sarah just stared at him, as though she were scheming away at something. "Fine," she said, finally. "You do the adult's job."

"Beg pardon, Sarah?" asked Brock.

She jerked the morpher away from him and attached it to his wrist. "Fine. If I can't use it, then you do it. Someone has to go save Aunt Serry, we can't count on my dad to save everybody. Turn into a ranger and go upstairs and save her."

"Sarah, I can't just—"

"_Lock sequence, initiated_." Some strange voice issued from the morpher and he felt it clamp down hard on his wrist. Brock grabbed it and tried to dislodge it, but all he succeeded in accomplishing was scuffing up his hand.

Sarah smirked. "It's already attached itself. PKM Morphers stick to their rangers. Now you have to go save Aunt Serry!"

Brock glared at her. "I can barely walk here! You think I can be a superhero?"

She nodded. "I think you can be my hero. And Aunt Serry's. If you want to be."

Brock looked around. "But…but I'm a doctor. I save lives, I heal Pokemon. I don't have it in me to fight anymore. I'm not even young enough to…to do anything. All I ever did was take up space, resources."

He looked at his hands, the hands that had healed so many of the sick, who had saved so many so close to death. And then he looked up at the little girl in front of him who suddenly did not seem so little anymore. He looked up into her dark, powerful eyes, eyes that burned deep into his soul. Eyes he had seen on her father so long ago. Eyes that had led him to follow his dreams, discover his calling, and meet so many friends along the way.

What was one more trip? How could he say no after all 0 had done for him, all 0 had sacrificed to keep him safe? And how could he refuse one little girl asking him to save someone with his healing hands?

He curled up those healing hands into fists and saw her reach down and hold them tightly. Her hands looked so small compared to his. He looked into her eyes, which now felt so much bigger than his own. "Please," she begged him, "Please save Aunt Serry. Please keep her safe until my daddy comes."

He smiled. "I would follow your father to Hell and back," he said. "Just don't expect too much out of me, okay? I can do a diversion, but I can't promise a miracle."

Sarah smiled. "You'll need a Pokemon. A strong one, too."

"I've got just the one." Brock opened up Swampert's Poke Ball, which exploded in a dazzling array of light and summoned the blue and orange swamp monster into the bathroom.

"_Pert_!" it shouted, noticing all the smoke. It sniffed at the air and issued another grunt of concern, smelling the fire outside the door.

"I know," said Brock. He held up the morpher, and Swampert eyed it warily. "We have to use this. Sarah wants to let us use it and save Serena. But it, I think it's permanent. You won't be able to come back, I don't think. Neither will I, come to think of it. But we've got to do it. Can you help?"

Swampert stamped its feet on the ground and issued a confident bellow that shook the adjacent stalls.

Brock turned to Sarah. "I think that means yes," he said.

"Then capture it with the morpher. Point its front side and press the button in the center."

Brock raised the morpher and pressed the button, expecting Swampert to disappear in a flash of light, just like when he used its Poke Ball. Instead, nothing happened. Swampert remained visible and the morpher started beeping.

"_Unauthorized access detected. Please return the Ailed Morpher to its registered operator._"

"What is it talking about?" asked Sarah. "It can't come off someone once it's attached. Work, you!" Sarah almost reached over and slapped the morpher, but Brock withdrew his arm just in time.

"_Authorization accepted. Identifying Birch, Sarah as registered operator. Please capture a Pokemon for conversion._"

Brock held out his hand. "I think you might have to do the capturing for me," said Brock. "Why can't I use it?"

Sarah shrugged. "Wait, Bakaguru. Maybe he made it to protect me, so he made it so I could use it. That must be why he told me to keep it safe!" She reached over to press the button. The capture worked and Swampert vanished in a stream of light and data. The morpher locked briefly while it generated Brock's suit out of Swampert's data. When it unlocked, its color transformed from a bright azure to a dark blue with orange stripes.

"_Ranger Spirit operational, system ready for activation._"

Brock looked to Sarah, who still had her hand on the trigger button. "You ready to save the world?" he asked with a nervous grin.

She returned his grin and chuckled. "Let's save them, Uncle Brock," she said.

He put his finger on hers. "On the count of three, then."

"One," she said.

He replied, "two."

"_Three_."

The transformation was not instantaneous, that was the first thing he noticed. A vast amount of blue light poured out of the little morpher and summoned what looked like the bulk of a new armor system, only it was so much larger than anything he had seen the others wear, save for the wings 0 sometimes had from time to time. It clamped down on him hard, fastening across his neck, chest, and head. He vaguely felt pieces strap themselves to his crotch and back, but nothing was emerging to cover his legs.

That was when his pants and shirt simply vanished and he was left with the metallic facsimiles of his arms and legs. Then they changed color, turning mostly blue but with splashes of orange everywhere. And they expanded, growing to accommodate his new girth. When the transformation was over, and the light finally faded away, Brock felt more like a tank than he ever had in his life.

He took a step forward to observe himself in the mirror. He noticed he looked similar to 415 and Serena, except where there had been black for Serena and blue for 415 in areas such as the visor and emblem, Brock had orange. Also, unlike them, he had grown. He must have been at least eight feet tall, possibly taller, though he could not be sure. He had definitely gained at least two feet in height. He had an orange visor shaped like an upside down triangle. He had the face of an orange Swampert pressed to the front of his breastplate. He had an orange belt, and orange stripes along his arms and legs. He looked down and wiggled his now-massive toes, and could only think of one thing to describe himself.

"Cool," he said with a grin under his new helmet. He noticed that the helmet was already beginning to smell like him, and that if this was going to becoming a recurring element of his life that he needed to invest in some new shampoo. And breath mints.

He turned to Sarah, noticing something strange. "How can I move so easily right now?" he wondered.

Sarah shrugged. "Doesn't matter! We have to go help Aunt Serry!"

"Right!" shouted Brock. "But first I'm dropping you off outside. Need to keep you safe too."

Sarah nodded, and watched with glee as Brock battered down the bathroom door with a simple tap before they made their escape.

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After a few minutes of uncertainty as to where the front door was located, Brock just decided it would be smarter to make his own. He accomplished this by pointing himself in the direction of the wall that seemed the closest way out, and ran right through it. The cement just fell away like it was construction paper and, in next to no time, he found himself safely outside with Sarah in tow.

"Sarah?" shouted someone to his immediate left. He turned and, to his astonishment, discovered 0 and May standing in front of him with a look of immense confusion. May was in 0's arms, 0 was transformed, and there were sparks of electricity zapping all around his uniform, suggesting that they had just used Agility to arrive on the scene.

"Mom! Dad!" Sarah shouted, and bounded towards them. 0 set May on the ground and she grabbed her daughter in a tight embrace.

"Are you okay?" asked May. "Hurt?"

"Uh…Sarah? What is that?" asked 0, as he pointed directly at Brock's gigantic armor.

Brock looked down at 0. "I'm an _it_?" asked Brock incredulously. "Your daughter's the reason I'm wearing this suit right now."

"Brock?"

"In the flesh…er, armor, er, yes," he replied.

"How? When did we have a blue morpher?"

Brock looked to Sarah, who explained. "Bakaguru gave it to me, but I couldn't get it to work. Aunt Serry's up there and she's in trouble, so I wanted to help. I gave the morpher to Brock."

"Guys," said Brock, "if we could save the catching up for later, we need to go find Serena. She's upstairs and she's all alone with Charon."

0 nodded. "Pi, scan for her." A few seconds later, 0 nodded and ran into the building. "Come on, Brock! We might as well see if that retro suit you have is any good!"

Brock lumbered back into the building and started running. He found that he was moving slowly, but was able to build up a nice momentum.

"They're through this wall!" shouted 0, gesturing to a room with a torn-off door. "Ram it!"

Brock nodded. He picked up speed and smashed through another wall, plowed directly into Charon, and body slammed him out another wall and onto the ground outside. Brock then turned to Serena, who looked battered but not beaten.

"Hubba hubba," she muttered. "Right in the nick of time, blue boy."

"It's actually Brock," said 0.

"They sure grow them big in Kanto, don't they?" she asked. Brock immediately felt uncomfortable and turned away.

"No time for flirting!" shouted 0. "Here he comes! Brock, download your weapon for backup!"

"Weapon?" Charon leapt into the room just as Brock asked his question.

"Three against one is soooooooo unfair!" he screeched. He decided to handle the situation by delivering a punch that smashed 0 against one of the few remaining walls in the room.

"0 means your primary weapon," explained Serena. "All rangers have at least one. Have your Pokemon download it for you so use." She then joined in the fray, diverting Charon's attention with a punch that froze half of Charon's back.

"Primary weapon," muttered Brock. "What does that mean?"

"I think I can answer that," said a voice that sounded exactly like his Swampert.

"That you, Swampert?"

"Indeed it is. And here is your weapon."

Brock's arms started glowing, and he felt something in his fingers that he could grip. Twin giant cannons appeared, colored blue and orange, and affixed themselves to his gauntlets. Brock stared at them for a moment, unsure of exactly what they were.

"What are these?"

"Hydro Pumps," Swampert explained. "Press the trigger attached to your hands and they will fire pressurized water at any target."

"You gave me super soakers?" asked Brock incredulously. "What about a sword? Or something equally cool?"

"Sorry, this was what showed up," and Swampert, and then it fell silent again.

Brock shrugged and pointed his left Hydro Pump at Charon, who was busy dividing his attention between 0 and Serena. "Might as well try them," he muttered, and then squeezed the trigger.

Water erupted out of his arm at a speed which slammed Brock right into the adjacent wall, forcing him to steady himself to compensate for the recoil. Swampert had not done the weapon justice. Water blasted out and tore straight through the room to batter Charon senselessly against the ground. Brock grunted, as the force required to keep his arm stable grew too difficult, and he shut off the water.

Charon, dripping wet, climbed to his feet in utter confusion. "What is this thing?" asked Charon. "Ranger Blue was never this powerful."

"I'd guess Bakaguru updated it," said Serena. "And it borrowed Brock's prosthetics in order to generate a giant exosuit. Brock's made it a tank."

Charon started roaring. "I am not losing to an idiot, a harlot, and a rookie!" He rushed up and tried to punch Brock, but Brock just turned both pumps on again and sent Charon flying through a hole in the wall.

"Ever notice that he seems to do a lot of flying through open spaces?" asked 0.

"Yep, I think we can take him," said Serena. "Just need a strategy."

"I've got one." 0 turned to Brock. "Now, what we need is some teamwork. When he comes back, soak him again, then get ready for some fireworks. Serena, ice him once I've weakened him."

"How is that going to happen?" asked Brock.

"No time! Now!"

When Charon ran back into the room this time, he was ready. Brock head steadied himself and prepared for the recoil, unleashing both pumps of water as quickly as he was able. Charon dodged, but his evasion was temporary, as all Brock had to do was twitch his arms to make sure that Charon smashed into a wall covered with water. The blast was so powerful that, for a moment, Brock feared he had given the man whiplash, and Charon took too long recovering from the blasts.

0 stepped in and grabbed Charon by the neck. Lightning shot out from his body, short-circuiting what was left of the electrical grid in the hotel. "Now," he muttered, "let's see you dodge this. Synchronization Drive: Volt Tackle!"

0 screamed, but Charon shrieked with agony as his soaked body was shot with enough electricity to power several small cities. Brock winced as the man convulsed into spasms. 0 held the charge for as long as he was absolutely able, and then released the last of his electricity. Charon collapsed, apparently unable to withstand the internal assault as well as he had the other beatings he had taken.

0 turned to Serena. "Finish him," he said. Serena nodded and began selectively freezing Charon, making it impossible for him to move. The water dampened his body, making it even easier to generate the ice that would keep him still. Finally, Serena froze over the Dark Ruby, just as Charon was about ready to come around.

"What's going on?" he murmured. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" asked 0. He snapped his fingers, and a small sword materialized in his hand. "I haven't used this in a while, might as well try it out to make sure no one takes Bakaguru's stuff for their own stupid causes again."

"You can't kill me," Charon whispered. "I have the Dark Ruby. I have their bodies."

"Doesn't matter what you have," said 0. "What matters is that we won."

"Haven't…won…anything," Charon growled. "Bakaguru never wins. Neither will his children." He looked up and glared at the three of them. "I am not dying like this! I am not losing to some idiots who think they can defy me because of the whims of a dead old man!"

0 laughed. "Guess again," he said. Then he stabbed Charon right through the Dark Ruby.

"_I am not dying like this_!"

Brock shuddered underneath his armor. 0's blade failed to pierce the Dark Ruby, it failed to pierce anything. The tip hanged just in front of the Dark Ruby, so close to its surface, but a violent force came streaming out of the evil thing and knocked 0 to the ground. 0 recovered, but the ice that had bound Charon was beginning to crack, everything about him looked like it was on fire. Brock thought he might explode.

"What's happening?" shouted 0. "What's happening?"

"I don't know!" shouted Serena. "I thought Dark Gems only had three forms! It looks like an evolution, but that's impossible!"

"You fools and your little hopes and dreams," whispered Charon, in an unearthly tone that shook Brock to the core. "You think you can come in here and kill me? The man who gave you everything? The man who made you who you are today? The man that combined the science and technology of that imbecile Niwa and the almighty powers of the Dark Gems? _Did you really think anything about this was going to be easy_?"

His claws clicked together, and the light just vanished. Charon looked unchanged, but there was something about him, something so menacing, that it made Brock sick to his stomach. It was like some sort of ooze that filled the air, making it difficult to breathe, to think…

"Interesting," murmured Charon. "Oh, very interesting." He turned to the rangers. "I'm afraid your murder will have to be postponed. I need to see exactly what this new evolution is. But you don't mind that, do you? You'll wait for me, won't you?"

"What happened to you?" 0 grunted, struggling to his feet.

"Isn't it obvious? I evolved, far beyond anything your feeble minds could comprehend."

"You can't evolve. You were already in Shattered Form. There's no way you could have done it."  
Charon walked over and caressed 0's cheek, with 0 powerless to stop him. "How strange then, because I could have sworn I just did. Oh well, guess I'd better get to the fun and whatnot. See you around, rangers." And then he was gone, just like the light. He vanished without a trace, leaving just the three rangers in the room alone.

0 instantly stood up, now that the miasma had vanished. "What was that?" he asked, short of breath.

Brock shrugged. "No idea, but we've gotta go find him. If he tries to attack someone now—"

0 shook his head. "We need to rally the team. We need Max and 415. The four of us can handle anything. We can handle this new evolution."

"Five," Serena corrected, and walked over to Brock. "Don't forget we've got a fancy new giant piledriving machine over here."

Brock rubbed the back of his helmet. "I really didn't do much," he pointed out. "I just hit him with a super soaker."

0 shook his head. "You did good for your first day. Let's hope Sarah was right and this stays a good idea." He turned to Serena. "We need to get in touch with Max and 415. Where are they?"

Serena opened up Elgyem's Poke Ball. "I'll find out," she said, and placed her hands on the Pokemon. Brock and 0 waited for a minute, noticing that Serena's body language was turning rigid. Serena shut off communication and recalled the Pokemon.

"What is it?" asked 0.

"We have to go. Ame has them cornered and they're in trouble."

0 nodded. "Let's collect May and Sarah and roll out."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

"We near the end," whispered Ame, shifting her attention from one ranger to the other.

Max was ragged. The gleam in his Dark Emerald was beginning to fade. His armor had ceased to glow, and his regenerations were taking longer and longer. 415 was not much better off, though she stubbornly refused to even hint at weakness. Still, Max could see that the fire was beginning to die out. She was taking a second longer to respond here, or fumbled there. It was not much, but it was far from the perfection she ordinarily practiced in the field.

"The time draws near, Eme, for you to embrace our fold through my flesh," she murmured. "There will be no more pain, no more sorrow. No more trials, no more fear. Just bliss and satisfaction. If you surrender now, I will even spare your love. She may walk away as she pleases until the end comes for us all. I offer you this because I am bored. I am bored with your struggle to survive. I wish to be complete."

"Then you're gonna have to work for it," growled Max.

415 nodded. "I will not be deprived of him. Ergo, you will not succeed."

"But a few mistakes on your behalf separate me from my goal," Ame replied. "Eventually, all fall before my feet. Why do you think I never needed to fight before this day? There would have been no point, no challenge, and all of you would have vanished from my sight long ago."

"If that's true, then why didn't you just do it?" asked Max. "We could have been finished a long time ago."

Ame shrugged. "It…amused me to watch your antics. Besides, I do not decide when I may act. My contract does. And, at this moment, my contract states that one of us must be absorbed, Eme. So, which of us will it be?"

Max's body flashed jade. "I'm not going anywhere."

Ame lifted her hand, and invited him forward with a wag of her finger. "Come prove it."

Max roared and charged forward. There was no strategy, only instinct. He ripped through her and tore at the air she was always forced to become when someone, anyone, touched her. He kept her moving, leaving her no time to phase back and no time to materialized inside of him. He was a machine, a horrible machine struggling to keep his life.

In those moments, Max became the Dark Emerald Ranger. He could feel the tug, the sensation, of having the Dark Gem whisper to him again. Their final evolution would be assured, it whispered, if only they could stop Ame. Then, they would have all the power they would even need to protect 415. They could keep her safe, forever.

Max was uncertain. He did not want to evolve. There was always danger in evolving…in _changing_…into something new. They had made it through the first time, but he had never seen a sane Dark Gem in their Shattered Form. He might have fought off their influence when his gem was young, but that did not make him an exception to anything.

Ame noticed his uncertainty and attacked. She materialized just long enough to send him into a world of pain, getting behind him and striking at his kidneys. Max fell to the ground and found he could not move. She had hit something else, some nerve that was making it impossible for him to even turn over.

"Foolish child," she said. "You let the gem sway you. You forgot that I cannot be defeated with a few karate chops and kicking. It is always so with the young. Now to shatter your gem and feast on your remnants."

"You will not touch him!" screamed 415. The metal in the ceiling tore itself from its hinges and started attacking Ame, forcing her to retreat.

"Your sentiments will bring you nothing but sorrow when I consume him, young one," said Ame.

"_Stop_."

Ame and Max froze, turning their attentions to Ranger Gold and those who surrounded him. Standing near him were Serena and May, naturally, with Sarah secured in his arms, but behind them was a giant behemoth in blue armor. A Ranger Blue. 0 stood completely defenseless, but with every molecule of his being emanating a feeling that he had no qualms whatsoever about destroying absolutely everything in front of him.

"Ranger Gold," murmured Ame. "This is a duel between myself and the master of the Dark Emerald. Do not interfere."

0 shook his head. "This isn't a duel, it's an exercise in futility. Max and 415 are just going to keep battering away at you until there's nothing left of them. Then you can take what you want, isn't that right?" He turned to Max. "She's never going to run out of steam. There's no way for you to win this through brute force. She's just not built like that."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" asked Max.

"Nothing. But I can do something." He set his daughter on the ground and reached for a brown Poke Ball on his belt. He casually inserted it into his morpher and shifted into Towl Form. His helmet shifted from its normal oval shape into one that looked closer to that of a Noctowl's face.

Then he turned his face towards Ame, and chuckled. "Time to shake up this party," he muttered. "Synchronization Drive: Foresight."

A surge of red energy poured out from 0's visor and draped itself all over Ame. When the light faded away, 0 folded his arms and chuckled. "Max, I think you'll find she won't be so hard to hit now. I've disabled those fancy ghost tricks of hers."

"You…did what?" Ame lifted her hand and tried to sink it through her chest, but discovered that she was completely solid. "I am tangible?"

"Game over," said Max, turning towards her. "Without your fancy trick, there's no way you stand a chance against me."

She shifted her gaze to him. "It would appear so, would it not?" Then, she nodded in satisfaction and said, "I can finally forfeit."

Max blinked. "W-What?" he asked.

She demorphed, and her armor melted away into her Dark Amethyst. "I have waited so long, little Eme, for this day." She stepped towards him and Max flinched, but did not dare step away. She raised her hand and cupped the side of his helmet. "I have waited so long for this to be over." She was smiling.

"What're you talking about?" he asked.

"I can finally fly away," she whispered. "Your friends can set me free."

"What is she talking about?" asked 415.

Ame turned to her. "And you, little girl, are the one to do it." She tilted her head. Suddenly, Ame started to change. Wrinkles grew out of the corners of her eyes, her purple hair gained strands of grey. She had always looked so young when they had seen her. Now, she looked like she was in her fifties.

"An effect of the Dark Amethyst," she explained. "It froze me in my prime all those years ago. Now, I am myself and, now, you can be told the truth."

0 and the rest approached her. "Aren't you trying to kill us?" he asked her.

Ame shook her head. "No, little ranger," she replied. "Not all of us are evil, not at first. Sap, yes. Dia truly was a monster, and I am certain Charon will find his way down that path, but not I. Not Top, either, now that I remember. I have resisted the longest. I am bound by my contract, but I am not evil."

Max demorphed. "Then why put us through all of this? Why make me the Dark Emerald Ranger? Why did you let Dia torture Brock? Why have you tried to kill us so many times? What's the point of any of it, if not to kill us?"

She began to cry, and rubbed the tears away. "Tears of joy, little Eme. I did all of this to prepare you. To prepare all of you, for what is coming. I had to make it convincing, otherwise I would have been lost and unable to aid you.

"When I began, I was young, foolish. I had a husband. I had a daughter. I had Pokemon. We were poor, and we had little, but we were happy. And then something took it all away. One day, when I was somewhere else, something came and destroyed my home. It set fire to my world, and burnt it all away. When I returned, there was nothing left. _Nothing_. All I had was my Haunter and my life. But not my heart and not my soul. Can you imagine what that does, to know that you could have done something, and to always wonder what it could have been?"

Ame smiled, and then turned away. "It eats at you. It consumes you, until you want nothing more than to hurt and hurt until there is nothing left. And they offered me that chance. They would let me hurt. They would make me powerful, so that I could do _something_ about my pain. They gave me my Dark Amethyst. I signed their contract. My Haunter was sealed in here, just as your Gallade is sealed in there." Ame pointed to the small jade stone and the chain that stilled wrapped around Max's hand. "Only then did they tell me the truth. Only then did they tell me that the monster that took my daughter and my husband was one of them. A mistake, to be sure, but one of them."

"A Dark Gem ate your family?" asked 415.

"They thought I would not realize. Fools. I have conspired against them ever since, in order to make certain their plan would not succeed."

"What is their plan?" asked 0.

"Oblivion," said Ame. "They intend to rip apart this universe and damn us all to nothingness."

"But why? What's the point of any of it?"

Ame shrugged. "Question not the madman, only the circumstances that led them there. It does not matter, for I know of a way to stop them. It is the seven of you."

"The seven of us?" asked Max.

Ame nodded. "It is a rhyme, composed by the madman Nicholas Brine. It was he who brought the Dark Gems into this world, it is from his lips we may yet stop oblivion."

"My…grandfather?" asked Serena.

"Your ancestor," corrected Ame. "The name is hereditary. He crafted the Dark Gems in Orre, sacrificing every Pokemon within its borders to succeed. He wrote, towards the end of his life, how the Dark Gems may be defeated. He wrote:

_When shadows fall, evil reigns,_

_And the Dark Gems arise_

_The shards of good will join behind_

_The Man of Golden Eyes._

_When all is lost, hope is gone,_

_And the world seems naught by gloom_

_The Heroes Seven stand together_

_Amidst the coming doom._

_Together now, they make their stand_

_In the Sun's shining hue_

_For only His Chosen One_

_Can make the world anew._"

When she finished, she paused to look at each of them before settling again on Max. "When the war comes, little Eme, it will all fall on you." Then she turned to 415. "And when this prophesy comes to pass, you are the one who will keep his heart pure. Do you understand?"

Max nodded. "I think I do."

"You must. Otherwise—" Ame halted, drawing breath very quickly, then she clutched her stomach. "They found me. They know that I have betrayed them." She looked up. "This is goodbye, little Eme. I will die tonight."

"But—"

"Silence! There is…no time for sentiments, not that you have any for the likes of me. Now listen: beware the Rangerlings. They will descend…like the plague from on high. You must not…" She groaned and fell to the ground. Max and the others rushed around her. "Must not…"

She looked up and saw that her Dark Amethyst was starting to crack. "No time. Shatter my Dark Amethyst and absorb its power. It is the only way to evolve you to your Shattered Form."

Max hesitated. "But I don't—"

"What you want is irrelevant, Eme!" she shouted. "If you do not absorb my Dark Amethyst, you will perish in battle and they will never be able to be stopped! Do it!"

"I can," said 415. She drew back her Magnet Mace and aimed for Ame's outstretched hand and the weakening gemstone. "If we succeed, he will live?"

Ame nodded weakly. "It is the only way for any of you to live."

415 took a deep breath, then smashed the stone into dust. Ame cried out in pain, clutching at her now-shattered hand, then realized she was disappearing. Her fingers were slowly turning to dust, and she turned to the others.

"You are nearing the end, Rangers Seven," she whispered. "Beware the Rangerlings. Beware the Dark Gold. All they require are a familial sacrifice. Should they obtain the Dark Gold, all will be lost for this world."

Max grinned. "It won't happen. We promise."

Ame smiled weakly. She was barely there. "I apologize for making you who you are, who many of you are. I-It was the only way to stop them." She turned and looked up at the ceiling. "At last, my love. I come at last."

She tried to breath, but her lungs were gone. Suddenly she simply vanished, leaving behind a trail of purple dust. The room fell silent.

Then, quite unexpectedly, something incredible happened. The dust that had once been Ame began moving, scattering itself about the floor, forming a circle around Max.

"Uh, guys? Might want to stand back," said Max. The others agreed and retreated to a safe distance. The dust started circling him, lifting off the ground, becoming a small purple tornado despite there being an absolute absence of wind in the building.

The Dark Emerald flashed, and Max stretched out his hand. In an instant, the purple tornado gleamed and dove into the gemstone, as if absorbed by a vortex. The light died down almost immediately after that, and then Max Birch stood surrounded by air, holding up his Dark Emerald against nothing.

No one moved for a while. "How do you feel?" asked 415 hesitantly.

Max looked himself over, and then shrugged. "Not much different. Still me in here."

415 lightly smacked him in the head. "Good. Keep yourself…normal," she said. She faced him, so none of the others would see the slightest sliver of a smile on her lips.

Brock and Serena demorphed, while 0 morphed to his human body. "What's the plan, boss man?" asked Serena, as she helped the now-unbalanced Brock stay on his feet.

"We handle this prophesy business later," said 0. "We can't think about stuff like that while we've got Charon on the loose. We find him first. We smash his gem. We make him regret he could ever warp Bakaguru's Master Morpher like that."

Serena's fingers clenched into fists. "Sounds good. How do we do that?"

0 turned to Brock. "With him, I think we've got a shot."

Brock blinked. "M-Me? How am I supposed to do anything?"

0 smiled. "We couldn't try it before, but now that we have five rangers, I bet we could pull it off no sweat. See, Pi and I have been working on a new trick for our Synchronization Drive. A way to pull off a new form that'll definitely rattle that blowhard. We just don't have the power for it on our own. But with three extra rangers, plus Max as a conduit, I think we stand a chance."

"Stand a chance at what?" asked 415.

"Stand a chance at some good, old-fashioned revenge, 415," he replied. "We just need to find Charon. Once we do, we just need enough time to pull off the greatest trick we've ever tried."

Max grinned. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's end this."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Twenty-Five Years Ago…**_

"Tonight's the night."

Bakaguru grumbled and put on his backpack, which weighed approximately forty-five pounds but seemed to be dragging him down by about eighty. He tried his best to ignore his discomfort and clipped on the belt that would securely fasten him into the system. He checked a small monitor positioned on his right arm and nodded with satisfaction.

"The system is in range for the test," he confirmed.

Arthur and Terry had their own backpacks on, though they seemed to be handling the weight with more ease than Bakaguru could. Terry strapped his own system in and checked his status monitor. "Mine's ready to go!" he declared.

"As is mine," said Arthur. "We should move out, someone's liable to happen on us if we stay too long."

Bakaguru nodded. The hanger had served them well, and they had been wise to make use of it during the development process, but the longer they stayed the more they risked having the material confiscated. "Do we have everything we need?" he asked. After all, they would not be coming back.

Terry nodded. "I moved out everything we would still need. Put the rest in a nice little pile next to the explosives. Nobody's gonna be able to figure out what we did here, so there shouldn't be any risk of these gadgets getting made up by anyone else."

"Good work, Terry," said Arthur. "Now, let's get out of here and try these suits for ourselves."

Bakaguru grabbed the trigger on their way out. It would have been quite ridiculous to suppose the hanger would explode without taking it. When they got outside and into the familiar face of the garbage dump they'd hidden the hanger in, they started running as fast as they were able east of the trash heap. When they felt they were at a safe enough distance, Arthur and Terry stopped and turned to Bakaguru.

"You're sure, right?" asked Arthur. He glanced at his backpack. "You're sure these are going to work?"

Bakaguru nodded. "I am. Considering we were making them out of trash, in secret, on our own time, without any help from PKM, I am certain that all three will work perfectly."

"Then the honor is yours, my friend," said Arthur.

Bakaguru pressed the trigger, and they watched as a bright flare erupted in the distance, right underneath the setting sun. It was scarcely noticeable, and considering they were in the middle of a war zone it was hardly unexpected. Nobody would care that a trash heap was gone in the morning.

"Well," said Arthur, "shall we try these things out?"

"Yeah, I'm getting anxious," said Terry.

"Why?" asked Bakaguru. "You've already worn yours. You know it works."

"Yeah, but I was thinking that that doesn't mean much unless you've got your whole team with you." Terry gripped the trigger button and grinned broadly. "Let's do it!"

Arthur smiled and nodded. "Agreed. Bakaguru, you deserve the honor of transforming first," he said.

"Very well." Bakaguru pressed the trigger and winced as a small spike drilled into his wrist and took a blood sample. He heard the confirmation chime from the machine and felt the armor materialize around him. The backpack instantly lightened as the suit began taking on its share of the load. He felt the visor clamp over his face and he looked through it to his friends.

"Well?" he asked. "Does it suit me?"

Arthur offered a thumb's up. "Very much so. I think it's our turn, Terry." He pressed his own button and transformed.

Terry gave out a small bark of approval and pressed his trigger button. Golden and black armor surrounded him and clamped down just as it had with Bakaguru and Arthur. From a distance, they looked very similar, save for their color schemes. Arthur was covered primarily with red with blue highlights. Bakaguru's, on the other hand, was primarily orange with touches of silver.

They stared at one another for a moment or so, until Terry broke the silence by commenting, "Well, don't we all look nice?" He instantly froze, noticing that his voice sounded more like a robot than a human. "Wait, why do I sound like that?"

"Voice synthesizer," explained Bakaguru. "I figured soldiers equipped with the suits would prefer to remain anonymous while conducting military operations in them."

"Smart idea," said Arthur. "Come on, we should get moving. The enemy has a tendency to bomb everything it can spot after night falls."

Walking was somehow much easier, Bakaguru noted, as they traversed the landscape. It could have been for several reasons, possibly because the armor was helping him move much faster than normal, or possibly because he was elated. He had succeeded. The machine worked and the armor worked and everything worked just as he had intended it to. He had been right, which meant that PKM had been wrong. He glanced at his armor with every bit of the pride that it deserved to be showered in.

Then he had to divert his attention from his magnificent armor, because he and the others noticed a small explosion in the distance. Terry stopped, with Arthur and Bakaguru joining him shortly after.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Pretty nasty blast over there," Terry said, and he pointed to a clearing in the distance. Bakaguru could faintly see the outlines of three small buildings. "We should go check it out."

"Might not be a good idea," said Arthur. "We could damage the equipment."

Terry shrugged. "What good's a suit of armor if you can't use it to save people in burning buildings?" he asked, and then took off running in the direction of the building.

Arthur turned to Bakaguru. "You know, it's rather hard to argue with his logic," he said.

"Very well," said Bakaguru, and they followed him towards the small settlement.

There was not much left when they arrived. Just a few smoldering wreckages where there had once been homes. Terry stood in the center of the houses, staring at the smoke rising in the air.

He turned to them. "What happened?"

"I don't know," said Bakaguru. "We should find out. This doesn't look like the fallout from one of our bombs."

The three of them moved towards the first home, when suddenly Bakaguru noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was so small and insignificant Bakaguru had to do a double-take before he realized what it was. "Guys," he said, and he pointed towards one of the other homes.

It was a little girl with a broken face, staring out of one of the windows.

"What the…" Bakaguru tried to say something, but Terry ignored him and took off running towards the house. "Hang on! We don't know what's in there!"

"Little girl's in a burning house!" shouted Terry. "All I need to know!"

"Come on, he'll get himself killed," said Arthur. He and Bakaguru followed through a hole that Terry made in the weakened front door. "Terry!"

"In here, guys!" he shouted. Bakaguru and Arthur followed Terry's voice into the other room. Terry was crouched over the little girl and picking her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stared at Bakaguru and Arthur.

Her face was practically gone. There was bruising, yes, but that did not even begin to describe what this girl had gone through. There were deep gashes across her cheeks, her lips were gone, and her eyes looked blank and weary, as though she had aged far, far too quickly. She had to have been no more than four years old, but her eyes looked closer to those Bakaguru had seen on veterans decades after their conflicts.

"What happened to her?" asked Bakaguru.

Terry shrugged. "Don't care. We gotta get her back to the base pronto. Maybe they can help her. She won't say anything, it's almost like she can't talk."

"We should find whoever did this and tear them apart," muttered Arthur.

"Hang on," said Bakaguru. He leaned in close, his visor was almost touching the girl's face. "Can you hear us? Can you tell us what happened to you?"

The little girl did not speak, but her eyes widened as far as she could make them. She began moving them, staring at something that was just behind Arthur and Bakaguru. Her mouth trembled and she began to shiver.

"New friends!" shouted something behind them, before something powerful slammed into Bakaguru and Arthur and threw them to the floor. Terry shouted and pushed the little girl behind him before he changed forward.

Bakaguru froze. It was a monster, a real monster. It was slobbering over the floor and stumbling around on its claws and talons, but it was a monster. Bakaguru shrieked and instinctively moved away from it, but the monster was not paying attention to him. It was entirely focused on Terry, who had decided to introduce himself to the creature by punching it directly in the general area its face was supposed to be.

"Keep the kid safe!" shouted Terry. He roared and tackled the monster to the ground, striking anything he could get his hands on. But nothing was happening. The monster was laughing. Each hit, each strike, only made it laugh harder and harder, which just made Terry angrier and angrier.

"Enough!" It smashed Terry in the chin and threw him to the ground. The beast crawled up and stared at them. "What are you three supposed to be? Some sort of superhero?"

"What're you supposed to be?" asked Terry. "Some sort of idiot?"

"Funny," it said, and reared its ugly head. Now Bakaguru could see it clearly. Its head was huge, with no disenable eyes or mouth. But its nose was elongated and protruded from a fine point in the center of its face. Its body was a weird blob that seemed to reform and reshape every time Bakaguru blinked.

"What is that thing?" asked Arthur. He and Bakaguru immediately regrouped behind Terry.

"Don't know," said Terry. "Looks like one of them monsters you'd see on a kid's cartoon."

The monster laughed. "May as well be, boys!" it screeched. "I'm the first of many, the very first! And the best too! Might not even need the others!"

"And what exactly are you the first of?" asked Terry.

"The Dark Gems!" It reared its head and giggled. "See this?" It held out what looked like a hand covered in slime. A solid, multicolored gem was sticking out of its flesh. "It's the Dark Opal! And it's going to split your little hides in half!"

"Move!" shouted Terry. Bakaguru, Arthur, and Terry just managed to get out of the way before a giant burst of lightning shot of out the hand and shattered a window behind where they had just been standing.

"This isn't happening," said Arthur. "There's no way this can happen! How did he do that?"

"Worry about the _how_ later, focus on the staying alive part now," said Terry. "Bakaguru, cover me." He pulled out a capsule and summoned one of the guns Bakaguru had installed on his backpack. "And keep that kid safe!"

In the heat of the moment, Bakaguru had completely forgotten about the child. Luckily, Arthur had not and secured her behind him. She still wasn't really moving, and Bakaguru swore he had yet to see her blink. Bakaguru turned and positioned the gun exactly as he had been trained right onto his shoulder, placed the strap around it to lower the recoil, and fired into the beast's hide with a slow but steady stream of bullets.

The beast hissed and drew back, but not before Terry jumped up and started battering away at its head with his fists. He smashed it again and again, always careful to avoid the bullets from Bakaguru's rifle. But nothing he did seemed to matter. The monster just turned right back around, or snapped its neck back into place, or popped the bullets out of its skin and onto the floor. It only made Terry angrier and angrier. He started hitting harder, and with the reinforced power in the suit, his punches started sending the creature across the room, bashing through walls, or crashing into the ceiling.

"Why won't you die?" Terry screamed.

The monster just picked itself back up. "Because I want you to feel powerless," it said, and raised its hand. "Just like your friend over there." Then it pointed its Dark Opal at Bakaguru and fired a pulse of lightning.

It was the longest moment of Bakaguru's life. He saw the light come for him, saw it blind him, but it never reached him. In the instant it took to travel to him, Terry jumped in front of the beam and it slammed into his chest. The light disappeared and Terry simply fell to the ground. He was not moving. He was not breathing. Bakaguru did not move, not until he felt Arthur's hand on his shoulder, and fell to his knees.

"Terry!" Arthur screamed. "Get up!" He turned Terry over and checked for a pulse. "He's not breathing! His heartbeat's still there! Bakaguru, come on!" There was such desperation in his voice, such fear, that it froze Bakaguru to the bone. "We have to save him."

"He'll live," said the monster. Bakaguru and Arthur turned towards it and their hands unconsciously clenched into fists. "I only split people, not bodies. That's for these babies!" The beast's hands reshaped, turning into long, sharp claws that looked like they could rip right through the armor.

"We have to do something," said Arthur. "What do we do? Bakaguru, what do we do?"

"I-I." Bakaguru shook his head. "How should I know? I just build things! I'm not supposed to know how to save you too!"

"You know how the technology works! We need something that will take care of this thing!"

Bakaguru thought. There had to be something, anything, that would get them out of there alive, but he was not thinking fast enough and the beast attacked. Arthur groaned and dove between them to give Bakaguru extra time. He looked down at Terry, still immobilized by whatever the beast had done to him. "The life support system," he muttered.

"What?" shouted Arthur, who was entirely too busy trying to avoid being zapped by the beam.

"The life support system!" shouted Bakaguru. "In the event of emergency, I arranged it so the three systems can be synched up to support one another in the event one fails! But, if I rewire the programming…" Bakaguru reached behind for his backpack and pulled out what looked like a small fiber coil. "Yes, this could work!"

"What could work?"

"This!" Bakaguru extended the coil and plugged it directly into a small outlet on Terry's backpack. The transfer took a while, but Terry's armor disappeared and Bakaguru noticed his energy readings increasing. "Now you!" Bakaguru mustered all of his strength and charged into the beast, shoving it away. "Turn around, Arthur!"

Arthur did not question him and allowed Bakaguru to drain all the energy from his armor. It powered down immediately. "I'll get Terry and the girl out. Do you have enough power to best that creature?"

Bakaguru checked his readings. "If I don't, I'll have enough to give you a head's start. Now go!" Arthur nodded and started the process of dragging Terry's body out.

The monster returned, kicking and roaring. "Get back here and die already!"

Bakaguru looked at his fist. "Oh please let this overclocking work," he muttered, and drew back his arm to batter the monster directly through the last intact wall in the building. "Need to figure out something quickly. Need to think quickly. Come on, Niwa…"

The beast jumped out of the hole and Bakaguru quickly rolled away to dodge it. It kept coming, forcing Bakaguru into combat. The overclocked suit was working, but Bakaguru kept a careful eye on the energy readings. They were dropping swiftly. "I wish we had given this to Terry. Or Arthur. Or someone else, someone who could actually use it."

_But there is no one else. There is only you_.

That was when he saw the giant, gleaming gemstone rising up to point at him. That was when he heard the laughter that filled his heart with so much fear. And that was when he raised his hand, putting all of the energy he had overclocked himself with into his fingers, and crushed the gemstone before it had a chance to release its energy.

And then, before his very eyes, the beast seemed to just fade away into dust and wither into nothingness. Bakaguru barely had a chance to blink before it was gone.

"Terry," he muttered. His armor faded away, exhausted by the overclocking, and Bakaguru ran outside to find his friends. "Terry!"


	40. Morph 40

**Author's Note:** Please enjoy the **final chapter** of my four-part posting today! And Happy New Year!

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**Morph Forty: Bakaguru's Legacy**

They did not have to wait long.

0 was standing in the middle of the street when it happened. He looked to the left and saw him in a coffee shop. To the untrained eye, Charon probably looked a little unhinged. His bald head was sweating, his pupils were dilated, and his hands almost crushed the paper cup containing his coffee on instinct. 0 held up his com-link.

"Pi, let them know to converge on my position," he ordered. "Tell them to remember their parts of the plan."

"Can do," said Pi. "Keep us safe in there."

0 nodded and stepped inside the shop. It seemed so unusual that he would meet Charon in such an…ordinary place. Flashes of a memory jolted through his mind: him taking May and Sarah to a small shop in Kanto a long time ago, almost like a lifetime ago. Sarah had been so small and precocious that 0 had had to balance his coffee and his daughter in the same hand while May placed her own order. He joined Charon at the counter and turned to the cashier.

"Mocha, please," he said, and handed her a bill. "And quickly." He turned to Charon and smiled. "Thirsty, Charon?"

Charon twitched. "None of your business, Golden Boy," he muttered. "Shouldn't you be running for the hills? That's what you guys do, right? Run away at the first sign of trouble?"

0 looked him over. There were bags under his eyes that belonged on a much older face. "You're in trouble," he said. "Are you deteriorating?"

The cashier handed him his coffee and 0 offered Charon a seat further away from the crowds. Charon accepted and sipped at his cup. Before Charon could say something snappy, 0 just lifted his hand and took a deep draught of his cup. Charon fell silent and waited.

"Let's skip all the dumb parts, shall we?" asked 0. "I know you're not going to back down. You want our morphers. And you know we're not going to back down. We're going to keep them. So let's not do that whole thing where we puff ourselves up and make ourselves seem important. I'm getting tired of it, and I want to enjoy this coffee. I didn't get much of a taste for anything other than beer for a few years, and I'll tell you, you never really appreciate variety until you lose it."

Charon just sipped his coffee.

"You're getting tired too, I can tell," 0 muttered, looking him over again. "By the looks of it, I say you've got six months. Fewer, if you keep using that technology. You won't live to enjoy yourself, even if you do kill us all."

"You don't know anything," Charon grumbled. "I'm perfectly fine."

0 shook his head. "See, that's where you're wrong. You went through some sort of boundary you weren't supposed to go through. You evolved passed Shattered Form with that Master Morpher. It'll eat you away, until there's nothing left."

"Others have evolved with no problems. Your little pet did it, I will be no different."

"Max evolved once, from Chained to Sealed Form. Perfectly normal in a Dark Gem's life cycle. You evolved passed Shattered Form. No way of telling how that ends for you. But, judging from all those lines on your face, and your jittering, it's not going to be great."

"What's the point of this?" asked Charon. "You already know I'm not going to stop. I already know you're not going to stop. We're two opposing forces, just waiting for one to give the slightest leeway."

"Because I'm offering you a chance," said 0. "I'm trying to be a good leader. Being a good leader means being willing to talk instead of fight. If you give me that morpher and walk away, we won't come after you. You can live, however long you get to, but you can live. Your Dark Ruby is powered through that morpher, so you could take it off and walk away." He finished his drink and set it on the counter. "It's up to you whether or not we throw down. I'm tired. I mean it. I am so tired of all these threats to my family. I just want them to stop, and the only way they stop is if all the Dark Gems go away. And I know that's not going to happen. But I'm going to give you that choice. Your partner already died tonight. Do you want to join her?"

Charon set his cup on the table. "Ranger Gold, nothing you just said matters to me," he replied, almost cheerfully. "While you were in fact saying it, my mind was drifting to another subject entirely. Most of it was involving your daughter, and the numerous ways I could defile her after I kill you tonight and she spends the next ten years as my slave. So spare me your patronizing shtick. There is no other way for this to end."

0 sighed and cracked his knuckles. "I did try, you know."

Then he placed his hand on Charon's shoulder and injected him with enough electricity to paralyze a Wailord. Charon convulsed and hit the ground at about the same time the other denizens of the coffee shop started screaming.

"Pi, come on down," he ordered, before he turned to Charon. "What you're feeling is about all the electricity that I can safely shock a person with without it being considered a felony. It'll still keep you about as rigid as a board as you convulse around and wait for your inevitable defeat. I just wanted to give you a chance to back out."

He leaned down and grabbed Charon by the ear, hoisting him up while still delivering another jolt of electricity. "You honestly think I'd let you talk like that about my little girl? You're obviously not a father, Charon, and your dad did a terrible job with you."

He turned to the other customers and sent out a wave of lightning that briefly short-circuited the power in the building. "I'd leave if I were you," he suggested. "Things are about to get really messy in here."

Everyone took his advice and ran all. All except for six others. A man with dark skin and fox-like eyes. A tiny woman next to him with silver hair. A man whose eyes could change from brown to green in flashes behind his glasses. A woman with short purple hair and red eyes whose expression never changed. And, behind them all, the most beautiful woman in the world holding the most beautiful girl in the world.

"My family will have peace tonight," said 0, as he demorphed back into his ranger armor. "Max, let's get things started."

Max nodded and stepped forward. He grinned and wrapped his chains around his arms and pressed his Dark Emerald against his flesh. "_Dark Gem Ignite_!" The chains melted into his flesh and he transformed. Max cracked his neck and his shadow chains began slowly winding down off his gauntlets and into his hands.

0 turned to 415, Brock, and Serena. "You guys ready?"

Serena nodded. "Sure you can handle this?"

"Doesn't matter. Do it."

She saluted. "On it, boss." She, 415, and Brock all transformed. Max's chains, one by one, pierced through their skin, connecting all four of them together.

"Pi, brace yourself," whispered 0.

It chuckled in his head. "See you on the other side, partner."

"Max, do it!"

Another one of Max's chains snaked up and bit into 0's neck. 0 groaned, then suddenly felt the power surging into him. First, it was Brock. He felt the Swampert's strength, and Brock's pain, that had forged the new Ranger Blue. He felt Serena's loneliness and her Dewgong's fear. He felt the struggle inside 415 between her nature and her heart, and the Luxray roaring for her to keep fighting. He felt all the sacrifices that had brought his team to him. He felt Max's anger, and the Dark Emerald's whispers to his brother-in-law to keep him sane. It would have been enough to break any other man, any other human.

But not Ranger Gold. As Charon struggled to his feet, 0 began a metamorphosis.

"Have we reached the threshold?" he asked.

"We're transforming! We're transforming!" shouted Pi.

Cario Form emerged first, the Claw Gauntlets settling into place onto his arms and hands. The spikes at the back of his hands extended in a bright blue flash. Next came Chariard Form, with its magnificent orange wings and its fiery tail. Oal Form bulked up his body, with its hardened black armor. Towl Form elongated his helmet, amplifying his sensors. And, finally, he watched as his Perior Form sprouted elegant vines along the leggings and boots covered by the Oal Form armor.

Then every single piece of his armor turned gold in one sudden, violent flash of blinding light. He heard his friends and family scream, he heard Charon shriek, and, in the distant din of his mind, he heard a soft chuckle he was certain he was imagining. After all, it was impossible that Bakaguru could be there, giggling in his ear.

"_Auxiliary Pokemon System: Synch Battlizer registered. Activating Synchronization Form_," said the strange, deep voice from his Ailed Morpher. Then the light died down and 0 found himself glowing in the abandoned coffee shop, the only source of light left now that he had knocked out all the power during his transformation.

0 lifted his head and looked himself over. "Oh, now this is much more like it," he murmured. His head felt funny, in that it did not feel different at all. He was himself, without any of Lu's scrappiness, Tork's emotions, Z's savage nobility, Noct's cleverness, or Serp's regal bearing. "Pi, can you hear me?"

There was no answer, though 0 was certain that his best friend was there, somewhere. Ranger Gold cracked his knuckles just as Charon transformed into the Ruby Master Ranger.

"Ready to die, little boyo?" he asked. His body was radiating the same vile odor it was before, only it didn't seem to bother 0 this time.

He felt better than fine. He felt _fantastic_. He turned around and saw his teammates demorphed, with 415 tenderly clutching onto Max's unconscious body.

She looked at him and glared. "Make it count, Ranger Gold," she said. "I will watch over him. He will wake."

He nodded, and then turned to Charon. "Do you realize how screwed you are?" 0 asked. "Look around you, Charon. Look who came to back you up. Nobody. Look who came for me. Everyone. My family. My friends. My team." He cracked his neck and started walking towards Charon. "There's not a snowball's chance in hell you're getting out of this."

And he dealt Charon an uppercut with such force that the Ruby Master Ranger smashed through the ceiling, continued flying, then smashed back through another section of ceiling to clatter to the floor. 0 could hear Charon wheezing as the monster got back onto his feet.

"Oh, your daughter's going to hate you when I'm done with all of you!" he growled and charged. 0 took the assault head on and the two of them locked arms. Charon tried to flip him over, but 0 held his balance thanks to his tail and the vines rooting him to the ground. The two shared a stalemate for some of the longest seconds of 0's life.

"Funny," said 0. "Your evolution doesn't seem to be holding up as well as my new armor. Isn't that an interesting development?"

Then he grimaced and clenched up his fingers. "Synchronization Drive: Protect! Synchronization Drive: Inferno!"

A sudden burst of blue energy surrounded them, and then suddenly the air around him and Charon froze in a small bubble of impenetrable energy. 0, who knew exactly what was coming, activated his life support system and shut off all contact with the outside world as his hands and forearms began supercharging enough heat to melt through the strongest of metals. The air inside the bubble evaporated into a vortex of heat and fire.

Charon just stood there, glancing from side to side, wondering how any of this could even be possible, before he and 0 were engulfed by the flames.

When the fire died down and Protect disappeared, the charred remnants of the Ruby Master Ranger stumbled away from 0 and fell to the floor. He was healing fast, though. His seared armor was already starting to repair itself and reconstruct his entire body.

0 had to end the fight soon. The energy output was dropping. His visor was indicating that he had perhaps five minutes before he would be forced to completely abandon his ranger form and morph to his human body to recover. There was no chance that Charon would give him time to recover for a second shot at Synchronization Form. He had to end it now.

He raised his hand. "Synchronization Drive: Psychic!" he ordered. His entire head glowed with soft light as Charon's body rose from the ground to suspend itself in midair. His arms and legs were entirely outstretched; he almost looked like he was about to be crucified. "Synchronization Drive: Leaf Tornado!"

A thousand million pieces of leaf materialized out of the air with faint golden glows. They jabbed at Charon's weak chinks in his armor, preventing him from regenerating. They shredded his tendons, they tore open his armor to expose the pitiful pale flesh that dwelled inside it.

"Any last words, you parasite?"

Charon tilted his head up. "You're all going to die. Just like that fat, pigheaded idiot Niwa. It's only a question of who gets to do it."

0 shook his head. "Bakaguru was ten times the man you are. A hundred times." Behind him, everyone nodded in agreement.

"He was a fool and a coward, and his only legacy is that of a pathetic band of failures who couldn't even follow simple orders."

"His legacy is the Rangers Seven," said 0. "His legacy is that he gave our planet its protectors. Yours will be just that you were another body destroyed by them."

Ranger Gold raised his hand. His bright, gleaming sword materialized into his grasp and he pointed the blade directly at Charon's Dark Ruby. "Synchronization Drive: Agility!" 0's entire body began to blur, and 0 himself began to laugh. "Synchronization Drive: Inferno! Synchronization Drive: Aura Sphere! Synchronization Drive: Leaf Tornado! And lastly, you evil little worm, Synchronization Drive: Volt Tackle!"

The leaves appeared again, only this time they attacked from behind Charon, holding him securely with the Psychic to ensure there was no chance of him moving. The three other attacks went straight into the sword, channeling a vortex of fire, lighting, and aura so fierce that the very vibrations it emitted as it tore through the air shattered every single piece of glass within a block radius.

0 was moving faster than he ever had in his entire life. His wings were folded low to not create wind resistance, his entire body was tucked like a coil to spring out at the last possible moment with all his might.

_Let's see if your will is strong enough to stop me this time._

He released his sword and it pierced through the Dark Ruby, pierced through Charon, and even launched directly through his body and into the wall across the room. 0 himself opened his wings and came to a stop some feet behind the Ruby Master Ranger, and morphed instantly into his human form. His face was sweaty, he was breathing heavily, and he heard Pi screaming in his head in victory. He turned and grinned at the hole cut directly through Charon's hide.

"Y-You think you've won?" asked Charon, as his ranger uniform simply melted around him. "There will never be a single moment of peace for you, little Ranger Gold, nor for anyone you've ever loved as long as you live. You think it'll s-stop with the Dark Gems? It'll never stop. If not them, then the next threat, then the next, until you wither and die with all of them. You'll never save any—any—anyone."

And then the blood spilled out from his lips and coated the fragments of the Dark Ruby still latched to his chest. He crumpled and faded away, just like all the others hand. Only a gleaming hunk of metal, once more white and orange, remained where his hand had been. 0 walked over, bent down, and picked it up.

"The Master Morpher," he whispered. He felt his family around him, and rose so he could be with them.

"Over?" asked May.

He nodded. "Until next time," he replied.

"We should do something about Bakaguru's morpher," said Serena. She was somehow supporting Brock, despite the fact that she had a few pretty deep cuts herself.

415 nodded. "We should destroy it. He would have wanted it destroyed."

0 shrugged. "It's not a decision we have to make tonight. Besides, we're done here. Let's all go home."

May nodded, and 415 and Max headed out to look for taxis to take them back to Aura Town. Brock found himself a chair that looked sturdy enough to support his weight and Serena joined him, leaving 0, May, and Sarah standing very close to where Charon had just died.

0 coughed and turned to his daughter. "Sarah," he said suddenly, "you're getting a baby brother."

And nothing, not all they had been through that day or what Sarah had been through her whole life, compared to her reaction to this news. For it is possible for a man to save his family, save his friends, and unlock an entirely new, powerful way to defend them, but it is utterly impossible to console his daughter when terrible news strikes.

Sarah stamped on the ground as hard as she could and screamed, "_Nooooooooooo_!"

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It was not as hard to clean up Ranger Downs as 0 originally feared it would be.

Charon had smashed up a good deal of the technology in the hideaway, that was true, but he had not done any damage to the underlying structure. Wires, foundations, circuitry were all undamaged. The walls and floors were still intact. All that apparently would need replacing would be the monitor screens and some computer hard drives. Maybe a new operating table would be required, depending on whether Chansey and Elgyem could fix it up. The teleporter would have to be completely redone, there was nothing 0 could do about that. He had fried the teleporter, not Charon, and the program had been so complete that, had he not had the blueprints to construct a new one, his entire team would have had to walk to battles from then on.

They were, however, at a complete loss at what to do about the Master Morpher. It was just sitting on what had once been a control panel, with an entire room of adults trying to decide the best course of action.

"We could preserve it," suggested Serena. "It was Bakaguru's most prized possession. I think he would have wanted us to keep it safe as a…reminder of him."

415 disagreed. "What we need to do is destroy it. The Master Morpher is entirely too powerful to be left unguarded in a simple shrine. Besides, Bakaguru Niwa was not a fool. He had no thoughts as to what would become of his possessions after he passed on beyond giving us the technology to continue the war. Anything else was to be destroyed. There were no files on his computers when we burned his lab to cinders. There should be nothing left from this, either."

"It seems wrong to just destroy it," said Serena. "It's…it's his. He deserved better than for us to just scrap his last remnant."

0 nodded. "I agree. We should keep it, but dismantle its internal components. That way, it can never be activated again. After we're done, we'll destroy the hardware inside it so the tech can't be replicated. We can do whatever we want with the casing."

"It would be more difficult, but it could be done," said 415.

"Then do it," said 0. "Bakaguru deserves to be remembered."

Serena summoned Elgyem, which directed its attention directly onto the Master Morpher. The little device floated up into the air, dancing delicately in nothingness. Pieces began to wobble, shift, and eventually come apart. Strands of wires and gears flooded out from the device, filling the hideaway with junk.

But 415 glanced up, and noticed something among the wreckage. "Freeze the process," she ordered. Each piece ceased motion as she pointed to a small metal box near the nexus of the morpher. "What is that?"

0 reached up and grabbed it. It looked like a solid grey cube with a red button. He looked at the others, who all looked at him with confusion.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Press it," said Serena. He did, and a soft hum, followed by a very familiar laugh, issued.

"_Hello, all! Surprised to hear my voice again? I'll bet you are. At least, I hope it's you. I highly doubt anyone else would have the skill to find this little tool, so I'm just going to assume it's you simply because it would be far too strenuous to record two messages._"

"It's him…" whispered Serena.

"_In any case, I'm almost certain you all made it out safely. If you didn't…well, I'm sure you found others. Possibly not as grand as our little family, but worthy nonetheless. I trust your judgment. I didn't at first, did you know that? I never wanted anyone to have my technology. It's why I made the morphers so hard to trade off to others, or why I never made more than just a few. But I trust you. It's why I convinced you to run, and why I chose to stay. There is nothing left my generation can give you. All I hope is that Arthur, Terry, and I did our best. We tried to make this a gift, not a weapon. Try to look at your morphers that way._"

415, Serena, and 0 looked at their morphers, remembering exactly how they had come to them. For Serena, it had been an accident. For 415, a lifelong obsession. For 0, a forced responsibility.

"_I have no idea how long ago it was since you last heard me, and I promise I'm not stupid enough to believe that I could still be alive and severed from this morpher. I'm essentially recording my will and testament for whoever happens to find this morpher on my body after I'm gone. Again, I just really hope this is you all, and not some urchin three hundred years in the future that finds my skeleton._

"_There is not much I can tell you to prepare you for what's to come. There isn't, and I apologize for that. Too often do I deliver bad news instead of good. All I can tell you is that it will end. One way or another, it will end, and whether or not that end favors you is up to you now. It is up to Rangers Gold, Silver, Black, and even you, Dark Emerald. You all have the spark, that primal essence to do what's right, that led me to trust you and give up my gift to the world. Even May and Sarah, they may not have strength, but even those you protect have power. I never had anyone to protect before you all. You gave me the strength to let go. You can give each other the strength to succeed._

"_One last piece of advice: this morpher contains a small trigger that will incinerate every component that makes up what this device can do. You will want to duck now._"

Everyone hit the deck really fast just as most of the morpher detonated in tiny, controlled explosions. When the dust cleared, only the husk of the morpher and the small cube remained.

"_In a way, every one of you became my children. So stay safe, stay together, and don't let this all be for nothing. You are my legacy, and I've never felt safer than the last time I saw you._"

The box then erupted in small, bright sparks of fire, leaving nothing behind of the morpher but cinders and the exterior. 0 reached over, and picked it up.

"Well, you heard the man," he said. "We've got prep work to do. Training. Gotta get Brock up to speed with everything, keep Max from evolving, and put everyone in tip-top shape. After all, not anyone can just save the world. Gotta be us, right?"

May nodded. "Absolutely right, dear."

"Can do," said Max with a grin.

Brock chuckled. "I'll need Sarah to transform, but sure. Count me in."

"Sounds perfect," purred Serena.

"We should commence immediately," said 415. "There is no telling when the final wave will be upon us."

"Then let's go already!" shouted Sarah.

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"Is it time, big brother?"

Axi and Bix sat in their cave, just as they always did. Axi perked up his ears at the water dripping somewhere in the distance. Bix just looked at the ceiling. Neither one of them seemed to notice that there was an entire army of Rangerlings surrounding them. All the little monsters stood stoic, simply waiting for orders.

Axi nodded. "I believe it is, little brother. All our friends are gone. No more Sap, no more Top, no more Dia, no more Ame, no more Rub. Just the two of us left out of all our friends. It's so very sad."

Bix looked around, acknowledging the monsters around them. "We still have them. We could still play with them all day long."

Axi shrugged. "But if we do, who would destroy the world? Our other friends? No, they keep taking our rangers away."

Bix stared thoughtfully for a moment. "But wasn't that the plan, big brother? Didn't we need everyone else to go away before we could come out and play?"

Axi nodded. "Of course. Why else haven't we played with them before? We can't exactly just run around like everyone else. The main baddies always need an amazing entrance, otherwise the entire plan would fall apart at the end!" Axi turned and giggled at the surrounding Rangerlings. "Oh, my pretty little darlings! You're so close to being done. Wouldn't you like that? Wouldn't you love to be free at last and let everything come tumbling down?"

The little monsters all chattered up a storm, jumping into a frenzy of ferocious movement that threatened to absorb the entire cavern. They were silenced by a sharp pitched shriek from Axi that sent them scuttling into the holes and tunnels where they dwelled.

"Oblivion will be ours, little brother!" he screamed. "And then there will be nothing, nothing, to stop us from reshaping this world in our image! In our making!"

"What a beautiful world it'll be, big brother!" shouted Bix. "All we need are the Rangerlings, little Serena, and the Dark Gold."

Axi grinned, to the point at which every single little tooth in his mouth was clearly visible. He brushed the silver hair out of his eyes and turned to his brother. "And with a plan like ours, there's never been a surer thing, little brother! Never been a surer thing!"

The two of them continued to cackle and cackle until the sun began to peek out from the horizon outside. Their plan wouldn't take long, considering how long they had already taken to bring everything about, but the rewards would be entirely too sweet to be imagined.

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…_**Twenty-Five Years Ago…**_

Bakaguru sat on a bench, waiting.

The hospital had been very friendly, considering the fact that both he and Terry had had to be brought in from overseas under special circumstances. Originally, it had been only Terry, but Bakaguru had insisted on coming along too. Arthur was still at headquarters, trying to smooth out the details for their new program, but Bakaguru had not been interested in that. He had to come. He had to explain what was going to happen next.

He heard them approaching long before he saw them. He could hear a child's voice echoing along the quiet, dank hallways. Finally, they appeared. The woman was short but, then again, Terry had been a rather big fellow. The child was tiny, perhaps five years old at the most, and looked exactly like Terry must have looked as a child. The shape of the face was different, the boy definitely resembled his mother in that respect, but the eyes and the hair were both perfect replicas. Especially the eyes. Bakaguru noticed that, even though the boy was easily distracted and kept shifting his attention from one thing to the next, the eyes always looked as though they were penetrating everything, analyzing everything, making the boy seem wise beyond his years.

The woman peered closely at Bakaguru, as if unsure of how to engage him in conversation. "Excuse me," she said, "are you my husband's friend?"

Bakaguru sighed and nodded. "Yes," he said. "I worked with Terry. I came with him to talk to you."

The woman nodded and turned to her son. "Why don't you go play over there for a bit?" she suggested. "Mommy has to have some grownup talk with this nice man."

The boy smiled and nodded. "Okay, Mommy!" he said and bounded off to where he could not hear them. The woman sat down next to Bakaguru on the bench after he scooted over to give her some room.

"They told me something happened," she said very suddenly. "They didn't explain what, though. Is that why you're here?"

Bakaguru nodded. "Yes. I-I'm sorry, ma'am, this is a bit difficult for me. They have trained professionals at PKM to help people with things like this, but I didn't think they would understand. I felt…I felt it had to be me to tell you, and it's going to be hard. In many ways, this is my fault. All of it can be traced back to me."

The woman nodded. "Why don't you start at the beginning?"

He did. "It was just an idea of mine. I had this idea to make soldiers safer in the field. We would give them armor to withstand bullets, so as to keep men like your husband safe, so they could come home." Bakaguru coughed and readjusted his glasses. "In retrospect, it was foolish. Oh so foolish. We built the armor. We tested it. And it ended up being completely useless in your husband's case."

"What happened?" she asked.

Bakaguru found it hard to look at her. "We came across these houses on the first night we tried out the armor. We went inside and found this little girl and a monster. Terry tried to save the girl, but the monster—"

"A monster?" asked the woman. "Like, a Pokemon?"

Bakaguru shook his head. "No, a real monster. Like the stuff of nightmares. This…thing had hurt this girl so badly, so very badly. It made Terry so angry and he attacked it. But it just kept coming back and then…" Bakaguru took a deep breath. "Then it did something to Terry. It shot something at him. Terry went down. We were able to stop the monster, but it was too late. Too late to help him. Too late to do anything."

"Please," she said. "What happened to my husband?"

"Terry—he came back shortly after he was brought out of the house. Not a scratch on him. Only it wasn't Terry. Something happened, the beam did something to him. Whatever it was, it changed Terry. It changed who he is, it took away who he was."

"I don't understand," she replied. "Please, can I see him?"

Bakaguru shook his head. "No. He has insisted on that point. He was going to have himself listed officially as K.I.A., but I convinced him to at least let me talk to you."

"That doesn't sound like my husband."

"That's because it isn't your husband. He isn't Terry. Not anymore. There's no other way to describe it."

"How can that be? How can you tell me that Terry's alive, but at the same time he's gone? That doesn't make sense!"

There were tears in her eyes. Bakaguru did not know how to stop them. "The monster said it split people. When it pointed the light at me, Terry stopped it. We thought he had died, but the monster said it didn't split bodies. Terry's been split, but not on any level you or I can ever understand." He lifted his hands to his glasses and discovered he too was crying, and he did not know how to stop.

"You said…you said there was a girl," she said. "What happened to her?"

Bakaguru took a deep breath. "He saved her. We were able to get her to the base, she's being taken care of. She will have some reconstructive surgery to repair what we can, but she's the same way as Terry. She's silent. Cold. Won't speak to anyone, except for when she asks for him."

"Is Terry silent too?"

"That's difficult to answer. He'll talk to me, but only if he needs to. He mostly listens now."

"Does he sound like Terry?"

Bakaguru shook his head. "It's like something got switched off in his head. He used to be so happy, so insightful. Now whenever he speaks, he just sounds like a robot. Won't use contractions, uses words in a way Terry never could. It's made him so much smarter, but at the same time—"

"It's like he's gone, even when you can see him sitting right next to you." The woman paused, and Bakaguru noticed that her hands were gripping the edge of her seat. "Does he remember me? Does he remember our son?"

This was going to be the difficult part. "Yes," said Bakaguru. "He remembers who you were to him, but he can't remember how that felt. Whatever piece of Terry that loved you and your son was severed off. He can only remember your marriage as facts, not as feelings or as love. It barely registered to him."

"Oh no…" The woman chocked, burying her face into her arms. "No, no, this isn't happening. My son needs a father. I need my husband. I—I can't do this without you, Terry." Her voice trailed off, lost between her sobbing.

Bakaguru could not help himself. His eyes were burning. "This is all my fault," he whispered to himself, wiping away some of the tears on his cheeks.

"Your fault?"

"I should never have let him try the suit. I should have kept him away from the house. He shouldn't have taken the hit for me. Any way you look at it, this is my fault. And all my work accomplished was that it ruined your lives. It was supposed to help people. It was supposed to save lives. How could I fail so spectacularly?"

He felt a hand close in on his, and looked up. She was smiling through her tears. "You didn't do any of this," she said. "Terry did this. He made his choice to protect the world. I made my choice to love him, and to have his child. Without you, he would be dead, right?"

"Does it matter? So I killed the demon. It changes nothing."

"It changes everything. He's alive. Maybe he's not the same person, maybe he needs time to heal. Maybe our Terry will come back to us."

"And if he doesn't? I've ruined his life, your life. How can you say it will be alright?"

She smiled at him. Bakaguru noticed there were no more tears in her eyes. "Did he save the girl? Did he save you?" she asked.

"Yes, but he didn't know what he'd be giving up! He didn't know he would end up like this!"

"He would have done it anyway," she said. "My Terry is…was…always like that. He always tried to help everybody. Did you know that's how we met? He was being silly and tried to get me over a puddle of mud. Ended up getting us both dirty. He was always such a good man. You must be too, otherwise he wouldn't have saved you. Well, he still might have, but he might have figured out a way to throw some whiplash your way." She giggled, it was a slight sound that sounded like a cough. "He always tried to do the right thing. So should you."

"Yes, but what is the right thing in this situation?"

"We wait," she decided. "We don't know what the monster was, right?"

"No. PKM is still doing research to determine exactly what it was."

"Then we wait. In time, maybe Terry will come back to us. Until then…" Her voice trailed off, and she looked at the little boy at the other end of the hallway. "Until then, he's on a journey. A long journey. Until our Terry can come back to me and my son."

"But he might never come back. He might never be the same as he was."

She shrugged. "That's the chance we'll have to take, won't we? Will you keep in touch with me about his condition?"

Bakaguru nodded, and then looked to the boy. "But, no one else can know. Not now, and not until we can figure out what did this to Terry and how to fix him. Your son won't understand."

"I know how to protect my son," she said. "You just keep my husband safe. You promise me that."

He nodded. "I swear on my life. And I swear to do everything in my power to bring him back."

She seemed satisfied with that, and called her son over. "Come on," she said with a small smile. "We're heading back home."

The boy tilted his head, confused. "Who were we supposed to see here?" he asked.

"This man here."

The boy turned to Bakaguru. "Hi, mister," he said. "Are you sick?"

Bakaguru chuckled. "Not really. I'm here to see a friend of mine."

"Are they sick?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. We'll have to wait and see."

The boy bobbed his head up and down. "Okay. Mommy, I wanna go home."

"Okay sweetie," she said, and stood up from the bench. She turned to Bakaguru. "Goodbye."

Bakaguru grinned. "Until next time. Hopefully there will be something soon."

"Hopefully," she said. Then she left, and Bakaguru was left alone in the hallway again.

Bakaguru stood up and headed into an adjacent room with black shades on the window. His hands were still shaking. "Stop," he murmured. "You got through it. What's done is done."

"How did they take it?" asked another voice.

Bakaguru looked up. He looked exactly the same, _exactly_ the same. Only nothing was Terry anymore. He could see it in the eyes the man had. They were dead, so pale and immobile that he might have looked blind to the untrained eye. His mouth was firm and hard, so unlike the Terry that had always had a grin.

"As well as you expected. She was braver than I was."

"Terrance chose wisely when he selected his wife," said Terry. "She will keep strong, no matter how many years she is separated from him."

Bakaguru took a seat next to the bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Terry turned to look at him, and Bakaguru had to suppress a shudder when he felt Terry's new eyes on him. "I am unchanged," he replied. "This body is healthy. I am ready to return to the field. Why am I still being cared for here, and not in a PKM facility?"

"Arthur thought that the change of scenery might help you. He pulled a lot of strings with his father to get you admitted closer to your home."

"It was an irrelevant gesture. We should return to resume work on the armor technology."

Bakaguru shook his head. "No, we're going to stay here until you return to normal. This change can't be permanent."

Terry looked at him, and then briefly at himself. "Terrance is gone, Bakaguru Niwa. I am here. What matters is that someone survived what happened."

"But you still have his memories," said Bakaguru. "How can you not be him?"

"Because those memories were formed by someone else," said Terry. He tapped at his skull. "The beam scattered Terrance's psyche. I was what put the pieces back together into a working mind. I have his memories, but all they are to me are a frame of reference to how I was created. I understand Terrance had a wife, and a son, but those people will not understand who I am. I am not her husband. I am not his father. That man is dead."

"But if you can work that out, why can't you figure out how to feel those emotions?" demanded Bakaguru. "There has to be some way to undo what's been done!"

"There is not," said Terry. "I have tried. The memories cannot connect with me. There is something blocking it, something that prevents my two selves from merging again."

"Your two selves?"

"Or something to that effect," said Terry. "The fact remains that Terrance remains locked in here and I cannot reach him. Ergo, I am not Terrance at all. I must be something else. I am what the demon created in Terrance's image."

"So what do we do?" asked Bakaguru.

"I have been wondering that. Do we have any information on the girl? Is she like me?"

Bakaguru nodded. "She's exhibiting the same symptoms. She must have been hit by the same thing."

"If we continue to monitor her, we may find out a way to reverse this. However…"

"However what? There's nothing else to do. We have to repair you. We need to get you back to your family."

"I understand. But would you not agree that I may be more efficient this way? Terrance was always such a fool. Perhaps I can be more of a use to this world if I remain as I am."

"Don't be foolish. That would mean trading off any chance of normality on the off-chance you perform better at your duties. You can be Terrance and still be a good agent."

"Regardless," said Terry, changing the subject, "there still remains one more issue I would like to consider."

"Which is?"

"My name. I am no longer Terrance. I require a new identity, at least until it can be decided what to do with me as I am." He thought for a moment. "This mind was constructed from nothing. It came from nowhere. Perhaps I should be 'Nobody'."

"Ridiculous. That is hardly a name. Perhaps a designation would be better. It would give you hope to return to yourself."

Terry nodded. "An interesting suggestion. Perhaps '0'. It means the same as nobody."

Bakaguru considered this. "Very well…0. We'll call you that for now. But you're going back to being Terry one day. Don't forget that."

"No. And you remember the armor. It is our legacy, Bakaguru Niwa. It is what we will leave behind."

Bakaguru shook his head. "No. The armor is something I will make. But you're coming home to that boy one day, as Terry. Someday. I promised her."

0 looked at Bakaguru. "I am afraid that someday may be a long way away," he said.

"Well, hope springs eternal."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

**Author's Note:** _PKM Rangers_ will conclude in 2013. The series will continue with the beginning of the final arc in January. The next chapter will be entitled: **Morph 41: Do the Twist**. Stay tuned!


	41. Morph 41

**Author's Note:** Welcome, one and all, to the beginning of the end for _PKM Rangers_! I almost don't want to post just this chapter again, because it's that important. It's also, quite possibly, the meanest cliffhanger I could possibly leave you with for a month, but I promise you that you'll want to keep reading after we're done here today. I normally don't do this, but for those brave few of you that leave reviews, I ask that you try not spoil anything about this chapter when you do so (I assume new people find this and I want them to enjoy the ride like you guys have). And hopefully you'll like it. I assure you, it's probably one of the hardest things I've ever written. Years of research, thinking, and planning went into this final arc, so I hope you enjoy. And, as a bonus, I am going to post the ages of all the main characters (someone asked about it, I figured it had been a while since the last one):

**Agent 0/Ranger Gold:** 31

**May Birch:** 31

**Sarah Birch:** 8

**Max Birch/Dark Emerald Ranger:** 28

**Serena Brine/Ranger Silver: **26

**415/Ranger Black:** (age withheld)

**Brock Harrison/Ranger Blue:** 36

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

**Morph Forty-One: Do the Twist**

…_**Soon…**_

Two things happened in a very short amount of time.

0's armor immediately canceled itself out, reverting him back into his human body. The glow faded, his body materialized, and he crumpled to the soft earth beneath his feet. He could hear someone screaming, but it sounded so…far off. It almost sounded like someone was calling him from the opposite end of a football field. He distinctly thought he heard May and Sarah, but he could not be sure. He could not see them either, everything seemed so dim.

"…have to get him up!" shouted someone to his left.

Another voice, this time from the right: "…need to…hospital!"

Something grabbed his arms and legs, he felt himself flying free from the ground. Then, an indeterminate amount of time later, he fell again, gently, onto a soft bed. Someone's ear was on his chest, there was Pi's voice screaming inside his mind.

415 was speaking. "He is unstable." She sounded too quick, almost as though she was panicking. "The armor was surrounding his infrared particles like a containment suit. He cannot revert to the ranger form now that it has been punctured and fractured. He…he is going to die."

"What do you mean, he's going to die?" It was May, sweet May. She had such a beautiful voice, it always made him smile.

"I…have no other way of phrasing it," said 415. "He will live for two hours more. Then, his body will attempt to revert back into its infrared state, fail, and die."

He heard someone shriek. He was not entirely sure what was going on. He decided it would be best to open his eyes and look around. The first time, there was so much pain, so much brightness, so much movement, that he shut them again and drowned out the shrieks until he could muster the courage to try again.

"He's waking up. What do we do?"

"We…we tell him. He deserves to know."

He opened his eyes. Everyone, everyone, was looking at him. He could barely see their faces, but none of them looked happy.

"W-What happened?" he asked, with a voice that sounded so slurred and tiny that he scarcely recognized it as his own. "Where am I?"

He felt someone squeeze his fingers, and looked up. It was May. "W-We're in Ranger Downs, dear," she said.

"What about Axi and Bix?" he asked.

"After they took the Dark Gold from you, they left. They're giving us until tomorrow for-for-" And then she stopped, and collapsed into a stream of sobs.

"Let me," said a shaky voice to his left. He looked up and saw Brock, who had the grimmest expression 0 had ever seen on his face. Brock squeezed 0's shoulder and clenched his hand against his cane. "There's no easy way to tell you this, buddy. You're…you're dying."

0 felt his heart ice over. "W-What?"

Brock's voice lowered, almost as if he was trying to distance himself from the situation by retreating into his role as a doctor. "When Axi and Bix tried to attack May and Sarah, you got in the way. Your suit got pierced. Your body reverted back to human form, but in about an hour it's going to try to return to infrared form. When that happens…"

"What's going to happen to me?"

"Your body will become infrared, but there won't be anything to contain it like before. Your body will just vanish. Without any way to put it back together."

"Can't we put me in a containment unit until there's a way to fix me?"

Brock shook his head. "There's…nothing we have that will contain you. Your data is too different to be uploaded into a Poke Ball, and we don't have time to modify one for you." His hands started shaking. "I can't do anything!" he screamed, burying his face in his eyes. "The one thing I'm supposed to be good at, and I can't do anything!"

"Calm yourself," said 415. "There is still time for something."

"Time for what?" asked Brock.

"To say goodbye," said 415. "The Dark Gems gave us this time to mourn him. Perhaps it is not a gift we should ignore. If we cannot do anything to save him, then let us do something to remember him." She turned to 0, and her lips trembled for a moment. "Let him be at peace, if we can do nothing else."

Brock was about to protest, but 0 raised a shaky arm. "She's right, Brock," he murmured. "I want to-to say goodbye, while I still have a chance."

"But we could still think of a way—"

He smiled. "I'm so tired, old friend. Let me at least see everyone before I go."

Serena took Brock by the hand and led him into the other room. 415 and Max soon followed, leaving just May and Sarah with him.

He shook his head. "No. You two last, please, or I'm not going to be able to make it through this," he begged.

May nodded and, despite Sarah's screaming, took their little girl away. 0 drifted for a moment, not sure how long he was alone, until he saw Max's face again in his darkening vision.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Now…**_

With a booming, mighty shout, Brock was able to deflect 0 and send him flying into the training room's wall. He pounded both his fists together and managed to dodge an incoming hit from Serena by falling to the ground in a tucked room. He leapt back onto his feet just as Max grabbed him with Mightyena's jaws and tried to tear apart the circuits in his right hand. Brock shifted his footing and tossed Max at 415.

"Break!" shouted 0, just as the Dark Emerald Ranger collided with Ranger Black. "Good work today, Brock. Power down."

Brock nodded and tapped a section of his helmet. "Sarah, please demorph me," he said. He watched as his morpher reacted to the remote signal beacon attached to a necklace on the other side of the room and his armor unclamped from his body. He fell on his butt, but managed to get back onto his feet with Serena's help.

Brock scratched at the back of his head. "How'd I do, really?" he asked 0 as the others demorphed.

0's face reappeared and broke into a smile. "Considering you've only been a ranger for three months, I can tell you I've never seen such rapid progress. Most of it's the natural bulk of the suit, though, but you're getting the hang of using it effectively."

"His attacks are underpowered," noted 415. "He should have broken my ribs when he hurled the Dark Gem at me, but there is no damage."

"Uh, I can explain that," said Brock. "There's this little monitor that Swampert keeps warning me about. It softens my blows, makes sure that there isn't any lethal intent. Not exactly sure why, but because I'm still new at this it's overmeasuring everything and making sure nothing kills anyone."

"Odd, I wonder why it does that," said Serena.

"The device was intended for Sarah Birch," said 415. "Perhaps it was designed for the child's self-defense, and was engineered to ensure she would not take a life in the equipment."

"Could be," said Max. "Doesn't really matter. We've got enough lethal weapons to handle the Dark Gems. We could use a good defense on the team too."

"Agreed," said 0. "Will someone grab Brock's cane so we can go hit the showers? We'll call it a day for training. I think six hours a day is enough."

"Dinner time!" called May from across the room. "Hurry up, Sarah and I ordered pizza!"

"If you'll excuse me," said 0, who disappeared with a crack of lightning up the stairs and into the kitchen faster than their eyes could blink.

Brock chuckled. "Well, at least that hasn't changed," he said. He hobbled up to the stairs and made it all the way to a small group of spectator seats before he had to stop and sit down.

"Not bad, old man," said Serena. "You're getting nimbler by the day."

"Well, I can make it through the house without embarrassing myself," said Brock. "Can't rely on that suit to get everywhere. Have to keep working on the physical therapy."

"You think you'll be up for a date?" she asked with a grin.

"Very funny. Come on, I think I'm good." He got up with Serena's help and noticed they were all alone in the training room. "Huh. Did everyone else go ahead of us?"

She shrugged. "I guess so," she replied. "They probably don't want to get there before 0 eats all of it."

"Well, let's not be late," he said.

When they got upstairs, though, they noticed something was terribly wrong. There was a pizza, but it was thrown on the floor and covered with black dust. 0 was transformed, and everyone had nervous expressions on their faces.

"What happened?" asked Brock. "We—"

"Rangerling," said 0, as he morphed back to human form. "It just showed up with the pizza. Didn't even try to stop me."

"What did it want?" asked Serena.

0 pointed to the pizza box. 415 opened it up and retrieved a small DVD case. "A message from the enemy," said 415. "We should analyze it."

0 nodded. "Alright, we're officially in the endgame here. Ame said the big guns running this show would be on their way. I just figured we might have more time." He looked at May, who was now much larger than she had been the last time. "I was hoping the baby would have been born by now. I don't know what's taking him so long."

May patted her stomach. "He's just taking his time. He'll be born when he's ready. Right now we need to focus on this."

"Right," said 0. "415, load that up in the computer downstairs. Let's move."

The entire team reconvened downstairs. 415 plugged in the DVD. A blurry image started playing on the monitor, which eventually focused in on two men with silver hair.

"Silver," said 0, "is that—"

Serena took a deep breath, and then slowly nodded. "That's them," she whispered. "Steven and Sebastian Brine. Former Rangers Blue and Black. My big brothers."

Brock turned to her. "You've got brothers?"

"They're not exactly the kind of people you want around the dinner table. At least, not anymore," she explained. "0 and I…we were sent to find them on my first mission. It's how I became the White Ranger. I didn't want to think that all this was because of them." She bent her head, brimming with shame, until she felt someone patting the top of her head. Someone with a metal left hand.

Brock smiled at her. "They're not you. Remember, you're a good guy."

The image became clearer, and the two started talking. "Hello, hello, little rangers," shouted one of them. "We were trying to think of the best way to contact you, then you guys called in for a pizza, and we figured that would be the best way. Sorry if you were looking forward to the extra pepperoni."

"How rude of us, little brother," said the other. "We haven't introduced ourselves, have we? They can probably guess who we are, since little Serena's there. I am Axi, and this is my little brother Bix. We're the last of the Dark Gems!"

"Quite right, big brother," said Bix. "And we just wanted to let you all know of a tea party we were throwing tomorrow afternoon at the _Grand Allegro_ restaurant. Our reservation is at three-thirty! Don't be late, you guys!"

"Because if you're late," said Axi, "we might have to go ahead and start playing with a few of the locals." Then, abruptly, the tape cut dead and the screen turned black.

"The recording is over," announced 415. "I will begin analyzing the evidence."

0 nodded. "We need to think of a game plan here."

"We go," said Brock. "We can't not. If those guys are as bad as I'm figuring, they won't be too happy if we stand them up. That threat might be real. We don't have a choice."

"But it's obviously a trap," said Max. "They just want to lure us into a public place where we won't exactly have an advantage in a fight, then corner us. There's no way we come out on top."

0 rubbed his brow. "Doesn't matter if it's a trap," he said. "Brock's right, we need to figure out a way to get in there, meet with them, and still get out with our skin intact. They know where Ranger Downs is, so they could strike at any time, but they aren't. Why? What's different about the two of them?" Nobody answered him for a few minutes. "Come on! The others always attacked us head on. These guys offered us an invitation. Why?"

"They're megalomaniacs," whispered Serena. "They're being dramatic on purpose. They want this to have maximum impact on us. It's their last hurrah, so they're pulling out all the stops."

"Okay, good," said 0. "Can we use it to our advantage?"

"Maybe," she replied. "If they underestimated us, we could get through their defenses before they even realize they need defenses."

0 turned to May. "Alright. Silver and I will work on that. 415 and Max, take Brock into the training room for another round. Be hard, because we need everyone at their best tomorrow. Sweetie, you get the Watchtower ready with Sarah, Elgyem, and Darmanitan. Make sure the routes to the hospitals are ready in the event we get a sudden case of baby, and make sure the panic room is ready just in case. Can we do it?"

May nodded. "Count on it, dear," she replied. "Let's go, Sarah!"

"Alright!" shouted 0. "Everyone, break!"

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Soon…**_

"Max Birch," he said. He tried to chuckle, but just ended up coughing.

He nodded. "Had to go and be all noble, huh?" he asked with what looked like a grin. "You've got a real Messiah complex about you."

"Do I? Hadn't noticed. Too busy saving the world."

Max laughed, but the tension they were ignoring proved too much to him and he stopped abruptly. "You don't have to worry, you know that, right?" he asked. "I'll do what Ame said. I'll protect all of them if I have to, but they'll be safe."

He nodded. "I know I don't have anything to worry about," he said. "Just-just protect yourself, okay? Don't lose yourself when I'm gone. Let 415 keep you _you_."

Max's eyes widened. "You know?"

"Everyone knows," 0 muttered. "We were just waiting until you idiots said something. You love her, don't you?"

Max looked like he was blushing. "We'll see," he said. "When we're done, I guess we'll find out for real. But right now, she makes me feel like I'm home."

"It's a great feeling, isn't it?" asked 0. "Like how your sister makes me feel. I always feel like no matter how bad things get, there's a home waiting for me when I'm done for the day. It's so warm, so comfortable."

"Well, it's 415 we're talking about, and I wouldn't exactly put her in the same category as warm and comfortable. Maybe _safe_ is a better word."

0 chuckled. "Fair point, fair point. Just, just promise me that you'll keep being yourself. Humans don't evolve like Pokemon do. Our bodies change slowly, and so do we. But Pokemon, they can grow up so fast! They change so radically. Just—just don't change too much. She loves the imperfect Dark Gem Ranger that saved her life. And so do I."

He squeezed Max's hand. "Take care of them, little brother. Make sure they're happy. Make sure they're—"

He squeezed back. "I will."

0 smiled. "Do you think I could see Silver next? I'd like to see her."

Max grinned. "No problem, boss. Whatever you want."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Now…**_

"Thank you for joining us. Won't you please sit down?"

Up close, there were some differences between Axi and Bix. Axi, for instance, had longer hair and slightly darker green eyes. Bix's hair was of medium length, so it was getting in the way of his eyes, which were lighter and softer than that of his brother. They gestured to the five rangers, who all took their seats on the opposite end of the table.

"So, what will everyone have?" asked Axi, as he perused the menu. "I think I'm going to have the dumplings. I know they'll just go straight to my hips, but my doctor insists that some fat might actually do me some good. I do look a little on the boney side."

"Nonsense, big brother," protested Bix, "you've never looked healthier."

"What will you all be having?" asked Axi, leaning in the direction of 0 and his family.

Not one ranger made a move to retrieve their menus. "Silver, what's your fix?" 0 asked.

"Not yet," she replied. "They're not done."

"Please don't talk like we're not here, little Serena," whispered Axi. "We've missed you soooooooooo much."

"Steven," she said. "This has to stop. I don't know what you think you're trying to do, but it needs to end. The, and I know this is going to sound clichéd, the world is at stake here. Ame said so."

Axi rolled his eyes. "How nice," he replied. "And it's 'Axi' now. I detest that little moniker Mother and Father gave me oh so long ago. Doesn't suit me. Now Axi…that's a name. So much better, don't you think?"

"Mind cutting to the chase here?" asked 0, finally. "I'm getting really, really bored right now. We came here because you blackmailed us, not for a social call. Why not let me know what's going on so we can get out of here? Are we here to fight or what?"

Axi shook his head. "Such rude behavior," he said. "Hardly becoming of lunch."

"Yes, big brother," agreed Bix. "We will tell you when we're good and ready, Ranger Gold, so you'll please sit down and _shut your mouth_!"

There was a silence at the table, followed by Bix blinking rapidly. "I apologize. Uncouth dinner manners leave me quite unhappy."

"It's hardly your fault, little brother," said Axi. "Perhaps we're being too teasing. Or perhaps Ranger Gold in an impatient little brat. There's no way of knowing. How's about we tell them why they're here?"

"I was hoping the entrees would have arrived by now, but I suppose so," said Bix. "What do you want to know, Ranger Gold?"

"Everything. What's the endgame here? How exactly do you think we're just going to let you walk away from this?"

"Well," said Axi. "We know you're not just going to let us off that easily. I mean, that would just be silly."

"Incredibly silly," agreed Bix. "That's why we have the hostages."

"Hostages?" asked 0.

"Uh-huh!" chirped Axi, who reached down and pulled out a television remote. He switched on a television in the corner, and the group turned as one to see something they really did not want to see.

"…_We are receiving confirmed reports…_"

"…_Hundreds, if not thousands, converging all over Goldenrod City…_"

"…_Derek Anderson here, reporting live from the Goldenrod City Gym, where an uncountable amount of soldiers are attempting to breach our beloved Whitney's Gym! No need to fear, the doors are sealed and Whitney and Milty are perfectly safe, but we're getting reports of the entire city being swarmed with these soldiers. Stay indoors and make no contact with…_"

Axi switched off the television and stared at the rangers with such a sweet smile. "So it looks like you have a choice, little rangers," he said. "You can either stay here and try to kill my little brother and me or you can go save your city before we destroy it. Or, rather, postpone the inevitable, but really it's all up to you. Kill us now, or try your luck later after you save the city. Up to you." He then paused, to take a sip of water from a goblet in front of him.

"0, we have to go," whispered Serena. "I don't like it any more than you do, but we can't let them destroy the city."

0 growled, but made no movement that suggested he was planning on going anywhere. He just gripped the table and stared down Axi and Bix with a snarl.

"They're blackmailing us," he grumbled. "We can handle them now, and then take off and save the city. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

Serena shook her head. "You know that's not true. We need to go save those people. We need to be heroes."

He took a long deep breath, then spat at Axi and Bix. "You're lucky your sister is a better person than you," he said and stood up. The others followed suit. "Don't you dare think this means you'll live another day."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," said Bix with glee.

0 walked away from the table before he overcame his better judgment and strangled them. The others followed him, all morphing at once into their ranger forms. 0 demorphed just as they exited the restaurant and his armor reemerged.

"What's the plan?" asked Brock.

"Spread out," ordered 0. "We need to get all of them. If this is their last stand, they probably brought every single one of those Rangerlings to play around in our city. Max and 415, you search for isolated attacks with the Dark Emerald. Silver and Brock, you focus on big attacks. Hospitals, schools, anything with the potential to send this city into a panic we can't save it from." He tapped the communicator attached to his helmet. "Watchtower, prepare for mass teleportation. We're going to be doing a lot of traveling in a very short amount of time."

"Where are you going?" asked Max.

"Secondary response," he replied. "I'm with Brock and Silver, but as a separate unit. We'll cover more ground that way. Are we ready?"

"Yes, sir!" said Serena.

He nodded. "Then go save the world, one more time."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Soon…**_

0 opened his eyes again. In front of him stood Serena, perfect Serena, with her large green eyes that looked so tired, so sad. Tears kept falling, tears that 0 did not have the strength to brush out of her eyes. She was sitting in the chair next to the table, trying to keep herself from shaking.

"How long do I have?" he asked her.

"Fifty minutes," she said. "Just a little longer."

"You know something?" he asked her. "I'm okay. I mean, I probably couldn't do some pushups or anything, but I feel alright. No five stages or grief, at least not yet."

Suddenly, she buried her face in her hands. "I can't do it. You know I can't."

He nodded. "You can and you will. It's what you've been trained for. It's what you do already. You can lead them."

She shook her head. "No I can't. I-I always did it when you were out of town, or somewhere else, but you always came back to save us. How am I supposed to keep this going know-knowing that you're never coming back? That you're never going to save the day again? That if they die, it'll be because I wasn't as amazing as you are? Or because I couldn't think fast enough? You know you're putting your daughter and wife in my hands, right? My useless, useless hands that can't do anything on their own. That can't save anyone. That have never saved anyone?"

"They saved me," he said.

She looked him over. "Clearly, they didn't."

"No, no, they did," he said. "When May left me, when I lost my family, my friends, everything except for Pi, you saved me. You kept me alive for so long, Serena. Your love kept me human. It kept me sane. It kept me…well, me. You were always there. You're the reason I'm here now. You saved me from becoming the same as the Golden Ranger."

She took his hands. "Heh. You know, I almost forgot about that crush on you. I almost forgot about spying on you in the shower, or asking you out, or trying to have sex with you. I always thought you were just waiting for May to come back. You never even used my name, not until now."

He lifted her right hand, and kissed it. "Yeah, you were sort of a perv at the beginning. You've mostly mellowed out."

"You're one to talk. You always looked so gloomy, like you were about to break into poetry lamenting your life."

"Well, I'm not lamenting it now. I'm grateful, Serena, for everything you did for me. Everything. I couldn't have saved my family if you hadn't been there. I couldn't have gotten them back if you had given up on me. They would be dead without you."

She was crying again. "I swear they'll be okay, 0. I swear they will be."

He smiled. "And that's why you're team captain now. That's why you can keep them safe, and only you. Not Max, not 415, not Brock. Only you can lead them, okay?"

"Okay," she croaked. "Okay. Okay."

"And don't worry. Being a leader just means you get good at filtering out the good ideas from the bad."

She snorted. "Yeah right," she muttered. She looked at him, and offered him one of her smiles, the kind of smile that used to knock out all the men at PKM headquarters. "What now?"

"If you wouldn't mind, team captain, I'd like to see 415."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Now…**_

"Watchtower to Blue and Silver," said May.

Serena tapped her helmet. "We read you. What's next?" she asked. They had just finished clearing out an office building and, aside from some walls that Brock had smashed down, everything had been handled perfectly.

"It's the Samuel Oak Memorial Hospital," she said. "They've got a whole bunch of them over there."

"On it." She turned to Brock. "Ready for teleportation?"

He nodded. "Ready."

They both waited a few seconds before they suddenly vanished, then reemerged inside a corridor with white paint and fluorescent lighting. There was not much else, other than flickering motion, and the sounds of screaming in their ears.

"We need to do a sweep," said Serena. "Watchtower, are we on the first floor?"

"Yes. There're two other floors besides this one with people. They got a flag that warned them before the Rangerlings showed up and managed to position as many as they could in those three floors."

"Okay." Serena switched off the communicator. "We prioritize these floors first, then we go wandering. Don't let a single one escape."

Brock nodded. "Can do."

They moved through the hospital swiftly, neither one of them missing a single beat, a single step. When they came across the first Rangerling, who just happened to walk out of a patient's room, it met Brock's fist and Serena's boot. It did not even have time to scream before it was taken down.

"You're getting pretty good at this, old man," said Serena.

Brock chuckled. "Just following your moves. Let's keep moving."

They finished sweeping the first floor, then moved on to the second one, where they similarly encountered little resistance. Aside from Brock scaring a few patients due to his height, they were in and out in no time. They managed to finish covering all the populated floors of the hospital before the Rangerlings even had time to prepare a real response to them.

"What do we do now?" asked Brock.

"Good question. Watchtower," said Serena. "How many more readings do you have?"

There was a pause, Elgyem and May must have been trying to pinpoint other locations for Max and 415 to hit. Finally, she answered.

"Three total, on the floor above you. Be careful, there's something off about their readings. I'm picking something up."

"Like what?"

"It's…oh, no," May whispered. "It's bombs. They have bombs strapped to their bodies. They've been put in some locations that, if they detonate, will make the whole place collapse. Something about load-bearing walls. You two have to stop it!"

"Count on it," Brock muttered. "Nobody wrecks a hospital on my watch. Let's go." He turned on his heel and headed for the nearest staircase, with Serena close behind him.

"Hubba-hubba," said Serena. "That's some action man talk for you. I've really missed appropriate times to ogle at such machismo."

"Ogle later. Work now," suggested Brock. He burst through the door to the fourth floor and took out the first Rangerling that was just waiting around, almost as if it knew they were coming. Serena finished it off, as Brock could not, and they proceeded through the corridor.

The second one came out of nowhere, and tried to wrap itself around Brock before it detonated. Luckily, Serena saw it just in time and jabbed it with her fist, causing it to shriek as a second of its back froze solid. It fell to the floor and Serena finished it off with a quick thrust of her boot into its Dark Onyx.

When she got up, she noticed that Brock was breathing rather heavily. "You okay?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. First 'life in danger' moment. It'll pass. Just, the last time I wasn't a ranger for very long, and I didn't do a whole lot. Not really used to it yet, I guess."

She gave him a small hug. "It's okay. Everybody's first time sucks. Just keep taking breaths and keep it out of your mind. You're still alive, everything's fine, and right now we've got a whole hospital riding on us to save them."

After a few moments, he nodded. "You're right," he muttered, and stood up to his full height. "You're right. I'm okay, and you're right. Let's get that last one."

They found it huddled in the corner, in the third room they tried. It made no movement to suggest it even noticed them. It just stared at the ground and wrapped its arms between its legs. Even when it did notice them, it merely lifted its head as if in resignation. In its claws it held a small trigger device, but it barely seemed aware of the item. It hung loosely between its fingers and it was nowhere near the button at the top.

As they approached it, it began emitting strange squeaks and growls, almost as though it was trying to communicate with them in some way. Brock approached it warily, with Serena behind him, but then he suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" asked Serena.

"Hang on," said Brock. "I want to try something." He approached the Rangerling and bent down towards it. "Are you…trying to say something?"

It perked up its head, and gave them a slight nod, followed by more squeaks. Why, if Brock did not know any better…

"It…sounds like a Pokemon," said Brock suddenly. "Why does it sound like a Pokemon?"

"It sounds like a bunch of jabber," said Serena.

"It's not. Now, bear in mind that I can't talk to them like 0 can, but I've spent enough time around them to recognize the cadence of the Pokemon language when I hear it." He leaned in closer. "If you're a Pokemon," he said to the Rangerling, "then what happened to you?"

More squeaks. It seemed to be shaking, and it put the trigger on the floor so it could raise its hands and point to the Dark Onyx on its chest.

"Do you want us to destroy that?" he asked. It nodded vigorously.

"Happy to oblige," said Serena.

"Hang on," said Brock, a bit more forcefully this time. "Are you sure?"

It nodded again. This time, Brock stepped out of Serena's way so that she could destroy it. It almost seemed to smile as it faded away into dust.

"How can it be a Pokemon?" asked Serena. "How? They've never spoken, or done anything to communicate. Not the basic ones like this, the mindless ones. What are they?"

"I…I don't know," admitted Brock. "But we've got bigger problems."

"What?" Brock pointed to a television behind them, where a reporter was discussing some breaking news at an elementary school. An elementary school filled with Rangerlings, with the exact same bombs they had seen at the hospital strapped to their chests.

"We've got to get over there!" shouted Serena. "Watchtower, we need a teleport to a school! They have bombs, but you can disarm them by killing the Rangerling! We need to get over there!"

"No need," said May. "Someone's already on it."

And then they heard a crack of lightning on the screen, and Ranger Gold appeared on camera.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Soon…**_

"Why would you request my presence?" asked 415, who decided to stand next to the bed rather than taking a seat.

"Why wouldn't I? Aren't you a part of my family?"

"I am, but only insofar that I am a ranger like the others. There is no familial relationship between us."

"There doesn't have to be. Silver's not my sister, or my cousin, or anything, but she's family. Just as much as you are. Same with Brock. So sit, please. We need to talk about something."

415 inclined her head in a nod and took a seat next to 0. "What do we have to talk about? I am not particularly…useful in these types of situations."

"It's about Max."

Something flashed in 415's eyes, and her hands twitched. "What about the Dark Gem?" she asked.

He chuckled. "Let's not do that. He already told me, and everybody else figured it out months ago. There's no secret here, and I'm not exactly in a position to divulge it."

She considered the information. "I prefer my personal life to be just that: personal. The Dark Gem understood. It was not an attempt to deceive."

"I know. You're still trying to be a real girl. No shame in trying."

"What is there about the Dark Gem that you have not already conveyed to him?" she asked suddenly. "Apologies. It is just that there are others you should speak to, and there is not much time to do so."

"You're right, it's just…easier, with distractions," said 0. "You know he's going to evolve, right? You remember, Ame said that he would have to so he could save everyone."

She slowly nodded. "It does not have to happen. We can sufficiently prepare for what is coming and therefore negate his need to evolve."

"Don't do that. Eventually, it's going to happen. There's nothing we can do about it. It's going to get too much for him, and he's going to choose to save you. What happens afterwards is what's important." He shifted himself up, so he could look 415 in the eyes. "You're going to be the one who saves him. More than May, Brock, Silver, or Sarah. It has to be you."

Her eyes shifted away. "What can I do? It is hardly my responsibility if the Dark Gem cannot control himself."

He reached over and gripped her arm, almost startling her. "He loves you," he growled. "And you listen to me: that love is going to be what keeps him human. If Ame could keep herself sane, so can Max. Max can have a chance to have a life. But he won't unless you bring him back to us."

"I am not responsible—"

"You are now," he retorted. "I'm not going to be here, remember? You are. So be a part of our family and save him from the Dark Gems. Don't let your stubbornness get in the way of being happy, 415."

She looked away, still hesitating. He gripped her hand tighter. "You told me you were a waste of my time. Prove me wrong. Promise you'll love him. Promise you'll keep him human, because I know he's made you human."

"You cannot know that," she whispered. "I am still—logical."

"You're not. You're hesitating. When I first met you, you'd never hesitate. You always knew what you wanted, what you needed to do. You're getting more illogical by the day. It's good."

Her eyes flashed. "How is it good?" she asked. "I always feel…unwell. I am always reassessing now, when I have never had to do so! It is because of his laziness, I am sure of it. I have never been so unsure of myself then when I am with the Dark Gem."

"Love's like that," he said. "You never quite get the hang of it, but trust me, it's worth it. You have someone to fight for, someone to protect. It makes all the difference in the world."

"How?"

"Worrying about someone makes you stronger. It reminds you the fight is bigger than yourself. It reminds you there's…someone to come home to. Someone to help you take the pain away, to share the struggle. When you're alone, you just fight for you. When you have a home, you fight tooth and nail to preserve it, no matter what. It'll make you stronger."

She thought about that for a short time. "I promise," she said, finally. "I promise to protect him."

0 smiled. "That's all I can ask for."

She smiled too. It was 415, so the smile was actually just a warmer frown, but it was progress nonetheless. "I am glad you were Ranger Gold," she said. "You have proven…a suitable replacement for my foster father."

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Now…**_

"Contain everything!" shouted Officer Jenny, coordinating her police force around the elementary school. "We can't afford to let anything happen to those kids!" Adjacent to her, Growler began barking assertively in the direction of the search and rescue Pokemon surrounding the building with the police, making sure both forces were working in tandem to secure the building.

Out of the corner of Jenny's eye, she could see the soldiers in the windows, in every window, standing calmly while the children cried inside, while their teachers tried to get them out. There must have been soldiers inside too, that she could not see, otherwise it made no sense for them to still be inside. Then she heard a crack of lightning, and turned with relief to see Ranger Gold standing right beside her.

Several guns pointed in his direction and fired. Ranger Gold simply blurred and all of them passed through him, suggesting he had dodged them at speeds Jenny had never seen in a human. "Stand down," she ordered. "He's with us!"

She smiled. "I am glad to see you," she said. "What are we dealing with?"

"Rangerlings," he explained. "Essentially, shock troops of the terrorist cell that's been attacking your city. They're armed with explosives, but it's not impossible to disarm them before they detonate. I'm just going to have to be very good about this."

"There are children in there," she warned. "This isn't an abandoned warehouse, or an empty rescue charity. There are sons, daughters, teachers, people loved by their community. They can't die, do you understand?"

He looked down at her and, despite the fact that he was wearing a mask, Jenny felt as though he was somehow staring directly at her. "They won't," he promised. "They're all coming out of that building, Jenny, safe and sound. I swear it on my life."

She nodded. "Then go save them, and radio if you need us."

"Count on it." There was another crack, and he just vanished. He moved at speeds that he knew the Rangerlings could not react at, and roared into the school faster than he'd ever run before. He took down two Rangerlings just sitting around at the front, they almost looked like greeters, before they even had a chance to reach for the explosives strapped to their bodies.

He ran through the school, slaughtering Rangerling after Rangerling. They could not communicate fast enough, or move fast enough, to stop him. He would kill the ones in the hallways first, then go room by room until everything with a Dark Gem breathed no more. Doors ripped from their hinges when he burst in, but he was certain the school would prefer broken doors to anything else, so he kept at it. He kept going and going, pushing himself beyond anything he had ever done before. These children were innocent. They were not a part of his war. They would not become casualties because he was too slow.

"How are we doing, Pi?" he asked, in between dashes.

"Stable, but our power output is dropping. We're going to need to stop before the Synchronization Drive completely runs out of juice."

"We can't stop. Look at the blueprints on the school and tell me how much more we have."

"Twenty classrooms. I think we have enough," replied Pi.

"We're going to have to," said 0, and he increased the speed. He was just at the last classroom when suddenly, abruptly, he felt himself start slowing down, coming to a complete stop no less than twenty feet from the last Rangerling.

He could see everything. He could see the class huddled in the corner, all staring back at him. He could see the teacher, standing in front of her children, trying to get as many of them as she could behind them, not understanding that the type of bomb they were using would not make her sacrifice matter. And he could see the Rangerling, with its finger on the trigger, about to press down…

0 broke into a run, a regular run, while at the same time reaching to his belt and unclipping a small blue Poke Ball and inserting it into his morpher. He could see the button being pressed, he could feel the transformation starting, and he could hear Lu whispering at him in his mind.

And he felt it as he tackled the Rangerling and, together, they broke through the window and hurled towards the earth below just as the explosion started.

"Synchronization Drive: Endure!" he shouted, and found himself instantly surrounded by a bright aura that protected him from most of the damage. It hurt, and he felt pain, but he would live. Nothing breached his armor, he wrapped himself around the Rangerling to ensure that shrapnel did not shower everyone outside, and he felt himself collide very abruptly with the solid concrete outside.

He laid there for a few minutes, not quite sure if he had succeeded, but then he realized he must have, because he could hear the cheering of the crowd that had gathered to watch the hostage situation. He could hear people crying out in joy as their children were rushed out of the school and into caring, loving arms. He could hear the police chanting for him, praising him, so it was with some difficulty that he managed to get back onto his feet to the screaming approval of the entire crowd.

He deactivated Cario Form, and tapped his helmet. "Ranger Gold to Watchtower. Danger neutralized. Next target?"

"There isn't any!" shouted Max on the same wavelength. "415 and I just got done taking care of the isolated incidents and Brock and Serena finished up their end! We're heading back to Ranger Downs to gear up for whatever's next."

"He's right, sweetie," said May. "Everything's going back to normal! We did it!"

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Soon…**_

"Remember how you used to be a terrible gym leader?" asked 0.

Brock laughed. "To be fair, battling was more my dad's thing. I was always more of a nurturer."

"Still, all I can think about right now is how I used an electric Pokemon to battle you. I was so stupid at the beginning."

Brock's hands were trembling, even as he sat down. There was a sense of dread coming off of him, as though he really was not looking forward to what had to be done. "I just remember a little runt coming into my gym and trying to show me how to do my job. And then, to my even greater surprise, I went with him. I actually decided to go traveling with the moron. I mean, who does that anymore? Who just up and leaves their life on a whim to go traveling around with two kids?"

0 scoffed. "I recall you being a teenager, old man," he muttered. "You're not that much older than me. We're both in our thirties."

Brock nodded. "We're both getting old, my friend," he said. "We're not the young idiots we once were."

"Speak for yourself. You're only thirty-six. Plenty of time to go off and be an idiot."

"Yeah. If I survive this little bag of fun, I'll be sure to go off and play pretend a few times. Maybe take another trip and be a roaming doctor or something. I'm legally dead and all. Couldn't even go to the funeral back in Pewter. My brothers and sisters are going to be really mad at me when I get back there."

"Once you're done, you'll be a hero," 0 pointed out. "All the babes you could ask for."

"I'm a doctor, a lot of people already think I'm a hero," said Brock. "I'm going to help our family, 0, but the simple fact of it is that I'm not a hero. I'm just a guy who knows a hero. Sometimes, just knowing that hero makes you pretty awesome, but I've never forgotten that I'm just a regular guy, and that was all I ever really wanted to be. Just a regular guy who helps people."

0 chuckled. He noticed that it was starting to hurt again. "How long have I got?" he asked.

"About fifteen minutes," he said solemnly.

"Before I go, Brock, I want you to know that you were always my best friend. Even when there were years where we didn't speak, even though there were years where I'm sure you must have thought of me as an idiot, I just want you to know that I always thought of you as my bigger, much more intelligent brother. And you've never been anything but. So go be the regular guy who saves the world."

Brock smiled and nodded. He was about to get up, and then suddenly changed his mind and sat back down. "If this really is the end," said Brock, "then I want an answer to a question that's been bugging me ever since I got here."

"Cutting it kinda close, eh?" he asked. "What is it?"

"Why did you stop using your name?" asked Brock. "Why not be you?"

0 shrugged. "Good one. Uh, the truth of the matter is that it was too noticeable. I used to have to be me for undercover work, since the fact that I was a celebrity let PKM do a lot of things they couldn't before. And then, after May left, I just sort of stopped. I lost contact with everyone, I lost my family. I stopped being me. I gave up the name because it wasn't a part of me anymore. Maybe it still isn't, or maybe I got used to who I am now."

"When we…when we, you know, bury you, what name do you want on the tombstone?"

"Whatever you want. I'm not—I'm not exactly going to be around to see it."

Brock nodded and stood up. "Take care of yourself, okay?" asked 0.

Brock just squeezed 0's shoulder. "Nothing to worry about," he said.

/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\

…_**Now…**_

May was running towards him.

They were all outside Ranger Downs, just outside of the door, in fact, when he felt her wrap around him, when he felt her hair against his face, when the smell of her shampoo filled his nostrils, that he heard them. They were all so happy, so pleased, that they had not even noticed that Axi and Bix were in a nearby tree, apparently waiting for them to finish their reunion.

"Are we done yet?" asked Axi. "No, I don't think so. So why are you acting like the finale just aired on your little lives?"

Bix nodded. "It's like they forgot all about us, big brother," he agreed.

"We were just celebrating your little plan unraveling," said 0. "All the Rangerlings are gone. No more army for you. No more anything. It's just down to you two now and, frankly, I like our odds."

Axi blinked. "All…the Rangerlings?"

"Gone?" asked Bix.

"Every last one. There's not a single trace of the Dark Gems left in Goldenrod."

Axi turned to Bix. "Isn't there, little brother?" he asked.

Bix appeared to be very sad. "No, big brother. I can't feel any of them. All our brave little critters, gone. In the blink of an eye. Where did the time go? I always thought we'd rule the world forever with our little minion army beside us."

"But then..that wouldn't have been the plan, would it, little brother?" asked Axi.

"No, no it wouldn't, big brother," said Bix.

"What plan?" asked 0.

Axi turned to him, bemused. "Why, our plan, of course. What other plan did you think we were talking about?"

"Big brother, they don't know about the plan," Bix pointed out.

"Oh, of course, how foolish of me, little brother," said Axi, as he slapped himself on the head. "You see, rangers, my little brother and I are the strongest Dark Gems in existence. We have two little gems here that house, respectively, the minds and souls of every Pokemon of Orre. All those species, all those creatures, they were eaten up by our ancestor Nicholas Brine to create these tools."

"But there was a catch," said Bix. "There was a Dark Gem for each Pokemon that was sacrificed. Some had just one Pokemon, some more, and they grew in power. That's how the Ruby, the Diamond, the Sapphire, the Topaz, the Amethyst, and the Emerald came to be. And that's how we wound up with so many Dark Onyxes, each one containing just a little fragment of the power of all those Pokemon."

"And when one is released," said Axi, "when you killed each and every Rangerling, you crushed the embodiment of that Pokemon's essence. Essence that could then flow back into us, into the last of the true Dark Gems, with their fancy colors and their fancy powers. And we couldn't fight you until they were all gone. Now we're at full power, and it's all thanks to you! Isn't that wonderful?"

"We should say thank you, but we're just going to kill you. Hope that's alright."

Then the twins unraveled their chains and they covered themselves in them. Head to toe, all 0 and the others could see were chains. Then they screamed together, and the light seemed to die out all around them as the wind and the clouds poured in from the sky above.

"_Dark Gem Ignite_!"

They were both in Shattered Form, and both much more muscular than they had been moments before. Axi was covered in a reddish-brown color that looked as though it had just been pulled from the ground, whereas Bix looked sleek and smooth, and completely colored black. They took a moment to admire themselves, and then turned to the rangers.

"Dark Axinite Ranger," said Axi with glee.

"Dark Bixyite Ranger," said Bix, with just as much excitement.

0 grinned. "Doesn't matter what you are. You're going down." He immediately demorphed back into his ranger form.

Axi shook his head. "I don't think so, golden boy. After all, I spy with my little eye one big flaw in your plan."

"And what's that?" asked 0.

"Someone's wearing their wedding ring."

They moved so fast, so fast, that even 0 barely saw it. With two seconds, they whipped Brock, Max, Serena, and 415 out of the way and hurled May into an adjacent field. They grabbed her and pinned her to a tree, gently caressing the ring on her finger.

"And now, dearie," said Axi, "the Dark Gold."

"Yes," said Bix. "We need it ever so much." He extended his arm and pointed his claws directly at May's belly, at their child.

"_No_!"

And 0 whipped right in front of them, not even considering, not even thinking, about what he was doing. The only thought in his mind was his wife, his child, and that nothing would hurt them, nothing would _ever_ hurt them.

He felt…pain. Pain the likes of which he had never felt before. It was more than just a bruise or a broken bone; something was _inside_ him, digging away at something.

"M-May," he whispered. He was standing right in front of her, directly between her and the Dark Gems. He could guess what had happened, but he was not sure.

"Is that what I think it is, big brother?" asked Bix. 0 felt whatever it was leave the inside of his back.

"It is, little brother," said Axi, who took it and dangled it in front of 0. There, somehow, impossibly how, on a small chain sat a small band of gold. They had dug his wedding ring out of his particles. "It's another piece of Dark Gold. How did we missed it?"

"I don't know, but it will do, won't it?" asked Bix.

"It will," agreed Axi, who turned to May. 0 found everything in his body locking into place, everything struggling against some sort of pressure he could not understand.

"Twenty-four hours," said Axi. "Tend to him. Then you die."

Bix giggled. "Then you die!"

And then they were gone, leaving 0 with a hole in his armor.

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…_**Soon…**_

He could not look at them. It was entirely too painful to know that this would be the very last time he would see them, that they would see him. Maybe, if he did not look, their time would go on forever and he would not have to go.

"Sarah," he muttered. "I'm going to need for you to be a brave little girl for Dad, okay?"

He barely heard her reply. It was just a soft squeak. "Okay, Daddy."

"Sweetheart," he said to May. "You need to get ready. You need to get yourself ready. I won't…won't be able to…protect you anymore. You'll have to trust the others to pick up my slack. You have to…" He buried his face in his hands so they would not see him cry. "I don't want to go," he whispered. "I don't want to go."

He felt two tiny hands grip him in a hug, he could smell his daughter's shampoo. "Please don't go, Daddy," she sobbed. He could feel her crying into his shoulder. "Please. I need my Daddy!"

"Sarah, maybe you should go back to the others," said May.

Sarah turned to her, eyes blazing. "No!" she shouted. "No, I have to be here!" She lifted her arm and pointed to May's protruding stomach. "How is he going to know Daddy? Who's going to tell him how hard Daddy fought, how many times he saved us, if I don't tell him? I can't go, Mommy."

"Sarah," 0 breathed. He could feel himself getting weaker. "You need to…need to tell him how hard I tried to be there. You need to love your Mommy and your little brother. Make sure he knows how hard, how hard, I tried to be there, and how sorry I am that I couldn't be. That I couldn't hold him in my arms. That I couldn't see him grow up into a brave little one like you."

Sarah nodded, trying to stem all the tears. "I p-p-promise, Daddy."

He felt May's lips on his brow, his warming brow, and smiled. "You know I love you, don't you?" asked his wife. "More than anyone, more than anything, under the sun."

He nodded. "E-Even though I was never…the best husband—" He started, but she cut him off by pressing her lips against his.

"The best," she insisted. "Even if you tend to be a little thick-headed."

"I just wanted to grow old with you," he said. He was feeling light-headed now, and the words just started flowing out. "I wanted to see Sarah grow up, to scare off the boys that came asking her out. To sit on a porch with you and hold your hand. To meet our little boy. I wanted to do so much."

"Don't let that be your last thought," she said. She was crying, he could feel her tears on his face. "You think of something happy, love. You think of a day, a moment, when you were so happy, so free, that it hurts. You hold onto that image, and know that your family loves you. That we all love you, and that you can rest. You can know we'll be safe."

"But I—"

She shook her head. "Please," she begged him. "Please don't be '0' right now. Be you. You were gone for so long, my love. For me, be my Ash one last time. If you ever loved me, be Ash Ketchum one last time."

"I—Yes." He tried. It was getting hard to think. "The day I met Sarah," he said. "I was so alone, so unhappy, after you left. And then I got a second chance. I got to save you both and keep you. I got to fall in love with you all over again. And I got to have my daughter again. I held her so tight, I never wanted to let her go again. I love you both so mu—"

His voice faltered, and his eyes closed. It was getting so hard to breathe, he just felt all this pressure inside him. He could hear screaming around him, but everything was getting quieter and quieter, and he saw in his mind's eye a faint light that just kept getting brighter.

He saw a faint image inside the light, one of a little mouse.

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…_**Now…**_

It was time.

Ash Ketchum looked around. There was nothing but the light and the mouse, who seemed content to wait until he stopped staring at everything and walked towards it.

"This is it, I think," said Pi. It twitched its ears and jumped up onto its trainer's back, seeing as it was far too big to sit atop his shoulder like when they were young. "How are you feeling?"

Ash shrugged. "I guess I should feel nervous," he said. "But I'm not sure. All I feel is just this really nice peace, somewhere here," he said, and pointed to his chest. "How about you?"

It shrugged. "About the same. My joints feel really sore, for some reason. Guess it's because I haven't done much walking around in the past few years."

Together Ash and Pi watched the light slowly, ever so slowly, get brighter. It was starting to get a little painful to look at, so Ash pulled his hat over his eyes. Then he noticed he was wearing a hat, which was unusual, seeing as he had stopped wearing them years ago. "Weird. Where'd I get this?" he asked.

"Who knows? Maybe it's just some familiar clothes to ease the process."

Ash just shrugged.

After a while, Pi said, "You know what the best day of my life was?" it asked.

"What?"

"That first day, over twenty years ago," it said. "I guess I wasn't too big of a fan that day, but in my defense I had gotten tossed in a Poke Ball and they just handed me off to a kid. It's okay to be cranky. And you didn't exactly know what you were doing. And I shocked you a bunch, you had to get rubber gloves to touch me. But that was the best day, I think. You saved me and everything. Nobody had ever done anything like that for me before. You hear stories, about trainers who will do anything for their Pokemon, but I actually got to be one of those Pokemon. Most trainers would have just let me go. Not you. Never you."

"Well, I wasn't about to just give up on my first Pokemon. Wouldn't have been a great way to start out my journey."

"Still, you stuck with me, and I haven't regretted a day since," it said. "I just…wanted you to know that before we go."

Ash chuckled. "Before all of them, you were there, Pi. And when they left, you were still there. And when I asked you to help me save the world, you did it without a moment's hesitation. You gave up your freedom for me. You're my brother, and don't you ever think differently. My small, mousey, electrocuting brother. And I love you. I don't know if I ever said it aloud, but I love you like a brother, little buddy. And I want you to know that before we go."

"Eh, we've died before. How bad could it be this time?"

Ash laughed. "I know, right? But we always came back those other times." He gestured to the light. "We've never seen this thing before. Who knows what'll happen?"

"You think they'll be alright without you?" asked Pi.

Ash looked down. "I don't know, but I hope so. I hope they can find some happiness."

And the two of them stood together, and watched the approaching dawn.

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**Author's Note: **Oh man, have I been waiting to write that chapter for years now! Don't worry, the finale's only just begun as we count down to the end of _PKM Rangers_! We will return, likely early next month again, with two familiar faces in **Morph Forty-Two: Ashes to Ashes...** Stay tuned (and spread the word about this story, I've sort of got a really epic finale planned out for the next seven chapters)!


	42. Morph 42

**Morph Forty-Two: Ashes to Ashes…**

There was nothing inside the little wooden box.

There should have been a body, a body at peace, but there was nothing. There was instead a pair of jeans, a yellow shirt, and a leather jacket, along with a few undergarments and a few small trinkets they could find. When he had died, his body simply disappeared into thin air. For all they knew, they might have been breathing him when they put everything into the box and, slowly, walked outside to a fresh hole cut into the earth.

It had been Z, Tork, Lu, Serp, and Noct who had dug the hole. Serp had started by shifting the plants within the ground to part, to give way to Lu's nails as it dug into the moist dirt. It had been Noct who had levitated the debris into a nice pile towards the side. It had been Tork who had stamped the hole's bed flat. And, when they had finished, it had been Z who had walked towards a nearby tree and snapped off a piece, carved it into a makeshift marker, and seared its trainer's name into the bark with its fire.

Max had made the suggestion that they all find something small, something significant, to bury with their friend. Something for Ash to take wish him on his journey to whatever happened…after. Something that showed who he had been, who he had been to them, and who they were never going to see again. Brock had approved the idea. Serena had too many things. 415 could not decide. Sarah and May just sat there, thinking.

Max looked around his room, considering the options that he had left. He had thrown so many of them away after his sister had left Ash. All he remembered hearing was that he had cheated on her, that he had come home and there had been scratch marks he did not explain, marks that implied he had been into something darker than May was willing to handle, and she had left. He had nothing of his time before he had gotten the Dark Emerald. He had left his gym, and his life, behind to follow Ash to the ends of the world. But there was one thing, one small thing he knew would be perfect. He took a pair of glasses he no longer needed to wear thanks to the Dark Emerald, the glasses he had worn since childhood, and put those in the box. A small memento of the boy he had been when he met Ash, and how far he had come since.

Serena had almost nothing, she had had to give up everything when they had left PKM. There was no photo of him, no memento of their friendship that she had to offer for the burial. She had only a shirt he had given her, years and years ago, when she had been hurt and he had taken care of her. She found it nestled amongst a few pieces of clothing at the bottom of her drawers and took it out. She nestled with it and smelled it, though in the intervening time it had lost his scent. She cried into it, and took the last bit of comfort he could give her downstairs.

Brock found one of his scalpels from inside Ranger Downs. It was lying on the table, right next to where Ash had died. He had tried to do something, anything, and had torn open Ash's jacket and drawn his scalpel, but before he could cut into the flesh Ash had just vanished into thin air in a dim glow of light. He took the scalpel up again, and unconsciously found himself cleaning it nearby in the sink. He took it with him, as a symbol of another life he could not save, another life that just happened to belong to his best friend.

415 simply arrived with the Golden Gauntlets that Ash had given her so long ago one fateful night in Petalburg. No one had been wearing them, resulting in Ash's morpher simply shutting down next to his clothing. Without the ranger, there was no way to hold the spirit to the world. Without another person to use the gauntlets, there had been nothing they could do to save the technology. She placed them between Ash's morpher in the box, and Max noticed that her fingers trembled slightly as she did so.

They walked with May and Sarah down to the grave, with Sarah holding the tiny box of their treasures. When they got to the grave, Z and the other Pokemon moved to a respectful distance, bowing their heads. Darmanitan and Elgyem joined them, as did Chansey, May's Pokemon, and Max's Mightyena and Grovyle.

The gravesite was underneath one of the apple trees that grew wild in Aura Town. It was empty, though, with a few leaves poking out of its limbs and the buds of a few pieces of fruit that had not made it to adulthood. The bark was gnarled and twisted, with ridges and curves upon its surface that looked as though it had seen a hundred years of sadness, of death, of pain. It was not where Ash deserved to be buried. He should have been buried in the plains of Kanto, it a small lot in Pallet Town with the rest of his family. With his grandparents. With Professor Oak. He did not deserve an unremarkable grave so far from home. He did not deserve such a gloomy day for his funeral.

He did not deserve to die the way he did, the way he never should have, but was perhaps always destined to. He should have been there, holding May's hand, holding Sarah's hand. Waiting for their son to be born.

May felt herself crying, but it was something of a reflex. She had not stopped moving since… She had felt the tears on her face and done nothing about them. She looked so pale, so fragile, that the slightest thing might have made her lose her nerve to do what had to be done. Sarah was shaking, and the box sometimes threatened to leap out of her hands and onto the ground. She kept her grip, though, as they approached the hole.

It had been decided that Brock would say a few words, followed by May, and then the Pokemon would say goodbye to their trainer. The box would then go in, the six of them would go back inside, and they would try to figure out how to stay alive for a little longer. Brock stood at the head of the group, over the hole, and produced a piece of paper.

He waited for a few moments, working up the nerve to start. "I'm not good at this," he said at last. "You'd think I would be. You'd think, as a doctor, I'd know what to say when someone dies. It happens all the time in my business. I see a Pokemon that can't be cured, I see a trainer that watches their best friend die in front of them, and I try to help them. I really do. There's something so pure, so honest, about that bond that it breaks my heart whenever I see it happen.

"Ash wasn't a good man. He was a great man. He was a friend, a husband, a father. His was my best friend. He's the reason I'm a doctor, the reason May's a mother, the reason Sarah's even here. Max's a gym leader because of him. Serena and 415 are rangers because of him. And yeah, he's the reason we're all here." He chuckled, and wiped away a tear. "And it was kind of rude of him to leave us right near the end." He noticed a few chuckles among the group.

"We can do it, though," he said. "We can finish what Ash started. We can save the world, because he brought us here to do it. Because he knew we could do it. I guess that's all I wanted to say." He hobbled towards Serena and she held him as he leaned heavily against his cane.

May and Sarah stepped forward to the empty hole. "You don't have to do this," she whispered to her daughter.

Sarah was shaking, and the box wobbled in her fingers. She shook her head. "I want to," she whimpered. "I can be Daddy's brave little girl. I can…I can." Her mother bent down and wrapped her arms around her.

"Okay, baby," she said. She removed the Dark Gold ring on her finger and put that in the box too. "Let's say goodbye." She could not cry yet, she needed to wait. She needed to be strong for Sarah. She needed to keep everyone together, because she knew that if she faltered it would send everyone down a spiral they would not recover from in time to do anything. There would be time for tears, for her laments, for everything, when Axi and Bix were gone.

Sarah kissed the box. "G-Goodbye, Daddy," she whispered. She bent down, put the box in the ground, and lowered it until it touched the soft dirt her father's Pokemon had dug for him. The Pokemon gathered around her and began to shovel the soil, covering up the last sight Sarah would ever see of it. She looked up and noticed steam coming from Z's eyes from the tears that evaporated the moment they touched its skin. Tork was inconsolable, weeping openly as it stamped the ground flat once the others were done. Serp's head hanged low as it generated beautiful flowers to cover the grave, and Towl was off in a distant tree, grieving in private. Lu just sat there next to Sarah, crying like the youngling that it was.

When it was done, and the Pokemon backed away, May turned around and faced her family. Her eyes looked so red, so tired, that she could have lost it at any moment. But she did not. She dug her hands into her pockets and her mouth hardened into a thin line. She dug deep, deep into that well of toughness she had built when she had left Ash all those years ago, the well that kept her going through what she had thought would be the hardest thing she would ever go through. It would serve her again.

"My husband is dead," she said. "The only man I ever loved, and the father of my children, is gone. There'll be time for everything later, and I know we're in shock, but right now we have to do what he wanted: get to work. We need a plan, and we need it fast, or else a lot more people are going to end up like him. And that's not what he would have wanted. He wouldn't want us sulking around when there's a world to be saved."

The others nodded, so May led the way back to Ranger Downs, with Sarah clutching protectively on her arm. They made it to the porch, where they discovered two people waiting for them on the little swing Ash had built for Sarah when they had first come to Aura Town.

One was a man of medium height, with light auburn hair that seemed to defy physics and stand in all sorts of directions, with neither rhyme nor reason for its appearance. He would have been noticeable just on that alone, but there was something else about him that instantly identified him to the others. His eyes were a bright, piercing red, and seemed to look directly through them into their very souls when he turned their gaze onto the group.

The other was a woman, a very small, very unnoticeable woman with dark, short hair. She turned her eyes, one green and one blue, away from her companion towards the group. In her arms was a small toddler with bright red eyes and dark hair that was making small cooing noises. The woman rocked him back and forth and he settled down to look at everyone.

The man removed a lollipop that he had been enjoying and gave them a bright, friendly smile. "Hello, Lucy," he said. "I'm sure you remember Dreas and Karin Logan, married crime fighters extraordinaire and righteously rocking parents? Could we trouble you for a cup of sugar?"

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"So that's what happened?" asked Logan, lightly sipping at the cola Serena had provided him. "Man, you guys have sure been through some stuff."

Serena nodded. "It's…it's still so fresh," she replied, "none of us are really sure what to do. I mean, I know what 0 said we should do, but I just can't bring myself to go out there without him." She looked down at her wrist, at the morpher strapped to her. "He's the reason I have this. He never put up a fight over it, he never regretted giving it to me. It just—"

"—Blows?" finished Logan. "Were you about to say 'blows'?"

Despite herself, she smirked. "I see you're still the joker I remember."

Logan spread his arms. "Change is scary. I still like to lighten the mood. And, since I married Karin and I'm the only one that talks in the house, I get to say whatever I want. Ow!" Logan rubbed his head, as three seconds earlier Karin had snuck up on him and conked him on his brow. "Well, within reason anyway."

Serena turned to Karin. "And you're well, I'm guessing?"

Karin's eyes blinked, and then she nodded slightly. She lifted up the toddler she was carrying, who seemed to be staring in wonder at everything in the kitchen, and lightly began swinging him around. The toddler cackled quietly while his mother played with him.

"He seems nice," said Serena.

Logan grinned. "We're not sure who Artie's going to take after," he said. "So far he makes a little noise, so he probably won't be as annoying as me. Doesn't cry much either, which is pretty nice on our sleep schedule. But we should probably cut the small talk. We didn't exactly come out of hiding for a social call."

"Why are you here, exactly?"

"We heard you guys took down Charon," he replied. "And we were waiting until the baby was old enough to travel. You know how annoying crying babies are on planes? Tons. We've been keeping an eye on everything here, and figured we couldn't stay hiding any longer. We just figured…you know, everyone would still be here."

Serena rubbed her eyes. "It's not something we can do anything about now," she said. "There'll be time to mourn later. Later. Right now we need a plan, and we're running out of time to figure one out." She looked at him and Karin. "I presume you're up for coming out of retirement?"

Logan smiled and lifted up his arm, exposing his red and black morpher. "Oh yes," he said. "I've been doing the whole family man business for a while. Time for me to do some wrecking."

Karin stopped swinging her son around and similarly showed Serena her morpher with a grim expression on her face. She made a much more pronounced nod of her head, then returned to the task of playing with Artie.

"So that means we've got six," said Serena grimly. "Six against two Dark Gems. One rookie, two retirees, one Dark Gem that might go nuclear at any moment, 415, and me. Just great."

"Eh, don't sweat the details," said Logan. "Have we lost our trump card? Sure. That's why you stack your deck with plenty of backups that'll make up for it. I always cheat at poker anyway."

Serena gave him a brief smile. "Sometimes I hate how upbeat you are, even when everything sucks."

Logan spread his arms and bowed his head. "That's me, the big, fat joker. Okay, fat's not the word. Sexy. Yes, incredibly sexy. Now, how's about we figure out a plan, fearless leader? We've got a whole world riding on our shoulders."

Serena nodded. "You're right. We can't just sit around and wait for things to start happening. Nobody's coming to save us but us."

"Well said! Karin, sweetie, if you'd be so good as to put Artie in his crib, we'd better adjourn to the basement for hot chocolate and war strategy."

Karin nodded and slipped out of the room with her son. Logan, meanwhile, followed Serena into the other room, where 415, Max, and Brock were huddled around May and a crying Sarah.

When they walked up, she lifted her face and threw the tissues she had been using to wipe Sarah's face into the trash. "Is it time?" she asked quietly.

Serena took a deep breath. "Can't wait any longer. The twenty-four hours is almost up. If we're going to figure out a plan, this'll be the time to do it."

May turned to Sarah. "Okay, baby girl," she said to her daughter, "Artie's going to stay with you upstairs while Mommy and everyone figure out what to do. Can you be a brave little girl and keep him safe?"

She rubbed her raw, red eyes and nodded. "Uh-huh, Mommy," she said. She blew her nose and ran upstairs. They heard a door shut just as Karin came walking down the stairs.

"Poor baby," May whispered, and found herself crying. "I should be with her. I know we've got to do this, but I know I should be with her. She needs to know she's loved. She needs to know I'm not going anywhere."

Nobody had anything to say to that. Nobody, that is, except for 415, who put her hand on May's shoulder and used her other hand to turn May to look at her. "It is an impossible situation," she said. "There is no right answer. You must decide whether you will comfort your daughter now or save a world for your daughter to live in past today. We do not have time for hesitation. Sarah Birch is a girl who has endured hardship. She has sacrificed. She has shared in our terrors and our woes, and she has done so as a little girl. Your daughter is a warrior, May Birch. She does not need to be treated like a little girl anymore."

"But she just lost her father—" began May, but 415 silenced her.

"She lost him once before," said 415. "She learned to live without him. She will do so again. Now come. We can wait no longer."

Max stepped forward. "She's right, May," he said. "Sarah's strong. She's stronger than any of us. She shouldn't have had to be, but she is. She'll be fine."

"I…" May faltered. "You're right," she admitted. "She's stronger than me. I'm trying so hard not to crack. I have to be strong for her, and for Ash. He wouldn't want me sad."

"There is no time to argue the hypothetical," said 415. "We should plan."

May nodded and, with some help from Max, got to her feet. They followed Serena down into Ranger Downs, into the command center, and around the computer monitors. Serena took a few more deep breaths before she stepped out and addressed the group, a group she suddenly realized was composed solely of people taller than she was.

"We don't know much," she admitted. "We've always known that the Dark Gold and my death were required for the sacrifice. I guess the death has to be a blood relative, and I'm the only one that they've got left that's close enough. That means they probably have to kill me to get anywhere with their plan.

"They're strong, though," she continued. "Apparently we've just been making them stronger over the years, and this last push with the Rangerlings really gave them a boost. They don't have Max's power, though, which means they aren't at full power yet. And Max's gem is pretty powerful." She turned to Max. "Right?"

Max nodded. "Uh, pretty strong, anyway. It's been strong enough to throw off their influence since the first misfire back when we first got bonded. I barely hear them anymore. I'm strong enough to hit most things they throw at us now, and I've still got an evolution left in me. If I wanted to, if I triggered it the right way, I might be strong enough to take them."

"There is no guarantee of that," said 415. "There is no guarantee that we would not lose you. The plan cannot hinge on the Dark Gem not siding with its brethren."

"I'm not gonna—" Max shut up, as 415 got dangerously close to his face.

"You are not evolving. You are not risking yourself on a hypothetical. You are too valuable to our operation." 415 did not blink until Max nodded his head, and only then did she retreat to a more appropriate distance.

Serena continued shortly afterwards. "Uh, anyway, we also have other options. Our Rescue Modes are fairly powerful, and if we can get them working together they could also be a big problem for Axi and Bix. So, what I'm thinking is that Max takes the weaker one and we all gang up on the stronger one. Keep them separated. That way they can't tag team us. Divide and conquer. How's that sound?"

"Could work," said Logan. "I'll draw one of them to us by flying around out of range. Max takes the other. We could do it. Yeah."

"How do we know they will separate?" asked 415. "They are twins. They appear to finish one another's sentences? What if we cannot separate them, and they attack together?"

Logan shrugged. "Fine. I'll be super-duper annoying to one of them, and only super annoying to the other. Should be enough to get them apart. I mean, I don't think anyone except Karin can really listen to me speak for longer than five minutes."

Serena heard a beep on her com-link, and cupped her hand against her ear. "Yes, Dewgong?" she asked.

"Little Serena, something's happening," it replied. "I'm switching on the televisions."

The screens flashed onto footage from downtown Goldenrod. The stamp at the bottom showed it was from a local news channel. And there, in the center of the frame, were Axi and Bix, transformed into their ranger forms, relaxing on lounge chairs in the middle of a road. There was a collapsed building behind them. They appeared to be waiting.

"Everyone good with the plan?" asked Brock. "It looks like we don't have time for another brainstorming session."

Slowly, everyone nodded their heads. May took her place at the center of the controls, with Elgyem and Darmanitan prepped the systems. Serena, 415, Max, Logan, Karin, and Brook stepped into the center of the teleporter.

"When we get there," said Serena, "make sure that you get Sarah and Artie and bring them down here. Seal yourself in. I don't know what's going to happen but…you look after this family's babies. Don't let anything happen to them."

May nodded sternly. "I won't. You be careful out there."

Logan and Karin looked into each other's eyes, and took one another's hands. "May," said Logan. "I know we didn't exactly have much time to get reacquainted, but in case we don't make it back—"

"You're going to—"

"Now's not the time for that, May!" snapped Logan, in a grimmer tone than she had ever hear him use before. "It could happen. You know it, we know it. We knew it when we decided to come here. In case Karin and I don't make it back, you take good care of Artie. You see him back to my parents. You…you make sure he knows he had a beautiful mother. The best mom. And the prettiest dad. You make sure he knows he was loved, very, very much." He smiled at Karin, and she kissed him on the cheek. "You tell him to always smile, in silliness and seriousness. Now let's do this."

The machine whirled to life, and the six of them vanished to meet their fates.

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Sarah sat down at the little desk in her room and, despite herself, pulled out a small notebook and pen. She scraped the pen across the page a little, to make sure the ink was still working, then began to write:

_ Dear little brother,_

_ Im sad. Really sad. Almost too sad to writ, but Im gona. I dont know if you'll get to read this. I dont know whats gona happen tonight. They wont tell me. They never tell me. They just ask me to be a brave little girl and sit through everything until its all better_.

She paused, and wiped away several of the tears that had splotched all over the paper, and continued:

_I hope I get to read this to you one day, when your old enough to understand it. I want you to know our dad and our family. There silly. Really silly. But theyre good too. They help me be strong, just like ill help you be strong. Even if youre a gross boy. But you need to kno and I want to tell you about dad. He cant tell you himself so Im gona do it for him._

_ Mommy says that dad met her when she was ten. Ill be ten really soon I hope. They were ten and daddy broke her bike. Then she went with him, with Uncle Max and Uncle Brock, all over Hoen and had a lot of fun. Then they split up, and had fun with other people, but they got back together later and had me. I think they were hapy. I was hapy. But I was a baby to, so I dont know for sure. Daddy was a secret agent, he went all over the world saving people. But he didnt tell mommy, and mommy got mad at him one day. I dont remember that part to. I was really little._

_ Mommy wouldn't tell me about daddy for a long time. She said there wasnt a daddy, he left and never came back. Then I met the dark man, Keean Toby. He was awesome. He was cool and Aunt Serry helped him stop bad guys called Dark Gems before I knew he was daddy. I thought he might be, but then he told me and I was so happy. I was so happy I had a daddy again. I wrapped my arms around him and he almost cryed. He didnt but he almost did._

She looked up from her writing, her beacon from Uncle Brock was flashing. "The fight's starting," she said and pushed down on the transmitter that let her uncle morph. Once the beacon stopped flashing, she returned to the page:

_Daddy was strong and kind and good and he loved us with all his heart. He tryed so hard to be here to see you to be with us. But we lost him and he cant come back. He cant ever come back and now I dont know if well be okay. Everyone went out to fight the bad guys without him and they told me to be a brave little girl and stay behind. But Im not a brave little girl. Im just a little girl who has to be brave because its the only way to keep them hapy. If Im brave, they fight harder. They protect me so I have to keep being brave. For mommy Aunt Serry Uncle Max Uncle Brock and everyone. For you to._

_ I just want daddy back. I want you to kno him I want him to play with you to. I want him to hug me again. I want him to love mommy again and for us to be a hapy family. For you to._

_ Youre big sister,_

_ Sarah_

She set the pen down and looked over the letter. It seemed right, she was sure that she wanted to say, but was not exactly sure how to say it. She heard footsteps at the door and hastily put the letter away in a drawer on her desk that had all her old drawings from when she was a little girl. May walked into the room and embraced her daughter.

"Is it time for me to be brave, Mom?" she asked.

"Yes, baby girl," said May. "We've got to get you and Artie downstairs into the safe room. Can you help me with his things?"

Sarah nodded. "I can," she said, and she got out of her chair. She picked up the little toddler, who did not seem to like her because he made a face and a low, uncomfortable sound as he tried to wriggle away. "What's he doing?"

"He's probably just used to Karin and Logan," she said. "I guess he hasn't met too many people yet."

Artie continued to squirm as they walked downstairs and into Ranger Downs. They finally got to the safe room, where May had modified the cot to serve as a crib for Artie. There were diapers and soft food inside for him to eat, along with all the other cans of food for Sarah and her mother.

"Mom, what's gonna happen to us?" asked Sarah suddenly, as she put Artie down on the cot. The little boy immediately began inspecting his surroundings.

May thought for a moment. "I don't know, baby girl," she admitted. "If your dad was here, I'd say we could do anything. But now…I just don't know. I want to hope everything will be alright, but I'm not as brave as you are." She wiped away a tear, and turned to her daughter. "But we're going to try. We have to try, don't we?"

Sarah rushed up and hugged her mother. She felt May's protective arms wrap around her and hold her close. "We have to," said Sarah, "because I'm not brave!" She started crying again. "I'm so scared, Mommy. I don't want anyone else to get hurt. I just want Daddy back and everyone to be happy again!"

"I know, baby girl," said May, as she stroked her daughter's hair. "You've had to grow up so fast. You've had to be tougher than any of us. I just need you to be brave for a little bit longer. I need to, too. I couldn't do what I'm asking you to do when I was your age."

"You couldn't?"

May shook her head. "Of course not," she said. "When I was your age, I just had to choose between being a coordinator and being a trainer. That was the hardest decision of my childhood. I had to be brave too, but it wasn't until I met your father that I _really_ had to be brave. He made me braver, and the part of himself he gave to you is what makes you brave." She pointed to Sarah's heart. "What do you feel, right now?"

"S-Scared," she said. "Really scared."

May smiled. "But is it going to stop you? I know you're scared, baby girl, but are you going to just give up?"

Sarah thought for a moment. "N-No," she admitted. "I…something says that would be wrong. That's not what I would do."

"That's your dad talking," said May. "He never gave up on anything. Ever. He never gave up on me, on you, on our family. He never stopped trying. It made him the man I love, and that part of him is a part of you. As much as you may have his eyes, he put more of his soul into you than anything else. He gave you strength, baby girl. Don't waste it."

Sarah slowly nodded. "Okay, Mom," she said. "I can be strong."

"Good. Now we need to go save the world. Think you can help me by keeping an eye on Artie?"

She nodded again. "I can, Mom."

May was about to turn and walk away, but Sarah held onto her shirt and stopped her. "Mom?" she asked.

"Yes?" asked May.

"What did Dad give you? If he gave me strength, what did he give you?"

May smiled and hugged her daughter again. "He gave me life, baby girl. He gave me you. He gave me your baby brother. He gave me himself. His good, his bad, everything. That's what it means to love someone. They give you life, even when that life isn't quite what you were expecting."

And then Sarah released her mother and she smiled too. "Then go save the world, Mom. I can save Artie."

May grinned. "That's what the Ketchum family does, baby girl. We're tough. We always win. And we never give up."

"Right!" said Sarah Ketchum. She then dashed over to prevent Artie from falling out of the cot.

May Ketchum smiled, and returned to where Elgyem and Darmanitan were waiting for her. It was time to save the world.

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The sun was setting when they materialized in front of Axi and Bix.

It was still high in the sky, still above a few of the buildings further west, but it was clearly on the way down. There was, however, ample light for the cameras and the reporters when the six of them appeared on the other side of the street. There was very little fanfare on their part. No fireworks, no explosions, not even a gust of wind. They were just suddenly there, in blinding flashes of light that died away almost instantly after they appeared.

They were unmasked. The reporters could see their faces, the police could see their faces, everyone watching, the whole world, could look and see Serena's beautiful hair, Brock's cane, Max's elongating chain, 415's clenched knuckles, Logan's eyes, and Karin's pouting glare. The world watched as Serena stepped into the street towards the monsters. Axi and Bix leaned forward as she approached.

"Big brothers," she said sternly. "I'm going to ask you to stop this one last time, before we have to do this."

Axi turned to Bix. "Should we do it, little brother?" he asked.

"It is tempting," said Bix.

"Yes," agreed Axi, "but we wouldn't get what we wanted."

"What do you want?" asked Serena. "Nothing about what you're doing makes any sense."

Axi shrugged. "We just want to watch something big burn. We thought the world was pretty big. Does everything need a reason? Does it have to be that we're not well in the head, or the Dark Gems did something to us? Can't it just be that fires are pretty, and we just want our own big, pretty fire?"

"We thought that was a pretty fun reason," said Bix. The two of them stood up, and Serena backed up to fall in line with her team.

"Fine," said Serena. "Thought I'd try some of 0's negotiation. Looks like we do this the hard way."

"Think you mean the fun way," said Logan. He licked his lips and turned to Karin. "Ain't that right, wife?"

In response, Karin started tracing the trigger button on her morpher.

Brock engaged his signal beacon just as Serena stepped forward. She turned to the cameras, to the reporters, to Jenny and the police, and to the world. "Stay tuned," she told them. "These are the people who're going to save the world. Because some stupid Pokemon Trainer asked them to." She turned around to her team. "Ready?"

They all nodded. "Ready!" they shouted, in a volume that seemed to carry throughout the street.

Serena, 415, Logan, and Karin all transformed in brilliant flashes of light. The Poke Ball hologram, the armor, all of it appeared, and then suddenly four heroes stood in the street. Brock transformed shortly after, once Sarah's response reached his morpher and triggered his armor. Max waited until the end, at which point he wrapped his chains around his body and watched as they melted into his skin and his armor emerged from his flesh.

"Let's say hello to the world, boys and girls," said Serena, "while we still can." She downloaded her Frost Fans and traced her fingers around their sharp edges. "Serena Brine: Ranger Silver!" Moments later, she entered Rescue Mode.

Logan and Karin followed suit, with their armor folding away to reveal their Rescue Modes. "Karin and Dreas Logan!" shouted Logan with glee. "Rangers Pink and Red!"

415 twirled her Magnet Mace between her fingers as her Rescue Mode caused all the nearby metal to whirl in a circle around her. "415," she simply said. "Ranger Black."

Brock tested the Hydro Pumps by blasting away a piece of the building's roof directly behind Axi and Bix. "Uh, B-Brock Harrison," he stuttered, quite unused to being on television. "R-Ranger Blue!"

Max took a step forward, his green chains sliding across the ground behind him. "Max Birch," he said, as his armor began pulsating jade. "The Dark Emerald Ranger!"

Serena and the others turned to face their opponents, who had just gotten up onto their feet. "You think that's gonna scare us, little sister?" asked Axi. He did a ridiculous pose that ended with him doing the splits. "Ooh, Dark Axinite Ranger!"

Bix laughed and mimicked the pose. "Dark Bixbyite Ranger, how awesome am I?" cackled Bix.

They stood up. "Really, little sister. Puffing yourself up for the cameras? What for? In a short time you'll be dead and it'll never matter that seven billion people just learned your name for the first time. Nobody will matter. Nobody at all, least of all you. So why not come over here and give us what we want? Little brother, doesn't she know how gentle we'll be? How we've practiced, been practicing for years, so we were sure we'd get it right?"

"Besides, little sister, you really think you can kill your two big brothers?" asked Bix. "You honestly think you can bring us down and drive those frilly little fans of yours into our throats?"

Serena made a small noise, and then looked down. "My brothers have been dead for a long time," she muttered. "They made me who I am, and I'm grateful for that. But you're not them. You're just a bunch of clowns trying to destroy the world, and I'm not going to let that happen. I'm never going to let that happen."

Axi shrugged. "It was worth a try, wasn't it, little brother?"

Bix nodded. "It was, big brother. Now we get to do things the fun way."

"You'd better watch out," said Serena, and she giggled. "We're the Rangers Seven. That's what Ame called us, wasn't it? And we're here to save the world."

"I only count six," said Axi.

Underneath her visor, Serena just smiled. "It's seven, big brother. I promise you, no matter how many of us you kill today, no matter how hard you break us, it's seven of us against two of you. And those are some pretty good odds."

She and her team lined up. "Attack!" she shouted.

And they did.

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…_**Meanwhile…**_

Ash Ketchum could smell the delicate hint of bacon and eggs in the air and…dare he say it, some pancakes were most certainly being cooked downstairs. It was not quite enough to wake him from the rather intense dream he had been having (something to do with fancy armor, and chases, and stuff he was certain he had seen somewhere on television) but it was enough to nudge him close enough to the brink of consciousness when he heard his mother calling from downstairs.

"Ash, hurry up!" called Delia Ketchum. "You don't want a cold breakfast on your first day as a Pokemon trainer!"

"..Pokemon trainer…?" he grumbled, trying to just hold on to sleep for a few moments more. "What about a Pokemon…oh, wait!" Ash sprung out of bed and assessed his vintage Ghastly alarm clock on his bedside table. "I'm going to be late!" It was almost a quarter passed eight, the initiation started at nine! "Oh man, the Professor's really going to get me if I'm late for this!"

He literally ran around his room and threw on any old clothes he could find. He grabbed a pair of jeans he'd been wearing for the past week, forgetting completely to put on fresh underwear. He checked the smell of his socks before deciding that they would be fine for another day and jammed his sneakers on. Finally, he grabbed a black t-shirt and one of those blue button shirts his mother insisted on getting him. It was not that he liked it, but rather the fact that it was the closest thing available. Then he spun around, looking for his…

"Hat," he muttered. "Where's my hat?" He was certain he had put it on the bedpost, but it was nowhere to be found. "No, no, no, I need my hat!" It was not until he laid down on the floor and checked under his bed that he found it, nestled between a baseball bat covered in dust and a small plastic Pokemon toy he had gotten in a fast food meal the other week. He settled it on his messy black hair and smiled. "Good. All ready!"

"Don't forget your gloves!" he heard her shout from downstairs. He found those on the floor near the door and hastily slipped them on before running downstairs for his food.

When he got downstairs, he sat down at the table, eager to finish his breakfast so he could get to the orientation. His mother was still bobbing her head in front of the stove, humming to a tune under her breath. Ash sat politely, with every fiber of his being screaming at him to ask her to hurry up. But he was only ten years old, and even though he was allowed to go out on a Pokemon journey, he never dared speak that way to his mother.

When she turned around, Ash noticed something odd. Her hair was not brown, not completely. He could have sworn that it was darker yesterday when he had gone to sleep. There were lines around her eyes and across her face that he also did not recognize. It was so strange, it was like she had aged twenty years.

"Everything okay, Mom?" he asked.

She nodded. "Oh, never better, Ash. Now eat up, Mimey wants to do the dishes right away before we go to your farewell party."

"Mimey?" asked Ash. In answer to his question, an old Mr. Mime popped out from the other room with an apron across its chest. "When did we get a Mr. Mime?"

"We've had him for decades, Ash. Don't you remember?"

"What?" He looked down at his plate, and suddenly everything became much more confusing. He could smell the pancakes, the syrup, the eggs, everything, but the only thing on his plate was a vast assortment of sliced apples. He picked one up and sniffed it. "Blueberry?" he asked the apple slice.

"Mom?" he asked, but his mother was no longer standing there. He was in an empty kitchen, just him and the apples. "Mom! Mom, this isn't funny! What's going on?"

There was a knock at the door, and Ash flinched when he heard whoever it was rap thrice on the door. "Hello?" called another voice, an unfamiliar voice, an unfamiliar man's voice, from outside. "Hello? Could you let me in, please?"

Ash froze. It was never a good idea to let strangers into the house, he had learned that the first time Gary had come over, but there was no one else around. Cautiously, he got out of his chair and slowly approached the door.

"Who is it?" he asked the door.

"It's me," said the voice. "Let me in, I think your mom locked the door again."

"H-How do you know my mom?" asked the boy.

There was a laugh from the other end. "Of course. You wouldn't remember me. Hang on, I think there's a key underneath this fake rock." Ash heard rustling outside. "Found it!" Ash saw the lock turn and the door opened, and suddenly there was a giant man in his mom's house.

Ash had to keep looking up, up, and up; the man was easily three, maybe four times, his size. He had long black hair and even darker eyes and seemed to be constructed entirely out of muscles. He was wearing a tight shirt and jeans, without any shoes or gloves or jacket.

The man crouched down until he was about eye level with Ash. "So you're Ash, huh?" he asked. "Boy, you grew up! I barely recognize you. Last time I saw you I had to bend down even more. Almost broke my hip!" The man launched into a laugh that caused Ash to step back.

"Who are you?" he asked. "How do you know my name?"

The man realized that he was probably scaring the boy, and softened his face into a smile. "Kiddo, I know everything about you. Been watching my whole life, even when I couldn't be there. Still, I think you're shorter than you're supposed to be. Aren't you supposed to be thirty?"

"I'm ten," said Ash.

The man shook his head. "Huh, that's weird. I was sure that you were thirty-something. Must be a side-effect of this place. No worries, we'll fix it in no time!"

"What place? My home?"

The man shook his head. "Kiddo, this ain't your home." He snapped his fingers and, just like that, the world around them shattered. The kitchen faded away to reveal a bright blue cave with pulsating crystals and, somehow, it was not dark, despite the fact that Ash could not see where the light was coming from.

"What's…this?" Ash asked, looking around. Somehow, it felt familiar, though Ash was certain he had never seen it before in his life. "Where are we?"

"It's a good question," said the man. "We're sort of in between things. Not really here, not really there. Get my drift?"

Ash shook his head. "Not really."

"It's okay. I was never much for the explaining stuff. Your mother was better at handling that stuff." The man scratched the back of his head and sat down on a boulder next to them. "Listen, I'm really sorry about all this, by the way. Wasn't exactly my call or nothing, but I'm sorry about it all the same."

"Sorry about what, mister?" asked Ash.

He looked at Ash, and the boy could not help but notice that the stranger's eyes looked exactly like his. "My name's Terry Ketchum," he said, after a few deep breaths. "Terrance Ketchum, if you want the name my folks gave me. I'm your dad."

Ash blinked. "W-What? My dad…he's…"

"On a journey? Yeah, I know," said Terry. "Really long journey, long as you can remember, right?"

"Y-Yes."

Terry smiled. "Your mom's something special, you know that, right? After all I put her through, after all she went through, she still loved me. And you, more than you'll ever know. She lied to you for me, because what happened wasn't something a kid would understand. But you're not a kid anymore, are you?"

"Yes I am," said Ash. "I'm ten. I'm supposed to get my Pokemon. I'm going to get a Squirtle. I'm going to be a Pokemon Master."

"You're not," said Terry. "I know it's hard to understand. Believe me, I've got problems wrapping my head around it. You're a grown man, and you need to save the world. But you can't if you're dead. Look at your right hand."

Ash did, though he did not expect to find anything out of the ordinary. There was something strapped to his wrist, something he swore had not been there moments ago. It looked like a tear-shaped wristwatch, with black and gold markings all over it. It felt…familiar, just like everything else.

"What is this?" he asked.

"You like it? I got one too," said Terry, who pulled out his own morpher. It looked much older, and a little bulkier, but the design was similar. "Mine's old, though. Way out of date. Yours is a fancy Ailed Morpher."

"Ailed Morpher…?" Something flashed in his head. He saw an image of a woman, much older than him with flowing brown hair, holding a baby. "What does it do?"

"Nothing yet. It's missing a ranger spirit. We've gotta go get yours."

"Wait, I don't understand. I don't understand any of this." Ash touched the watch again, he saw the picture of the woman and the baby again, and he instantly felt sick to his stomach. "What's going on? What's really going on?"

Terry, after a moment, nodded. "I suppose I'm not doing the best job at talking you through this. Want me to start over?"

Ash nodded. "Yes, please."

Terry gestured around them. "This cave here's a zone between our world, and another. It's not really supposed to be here, it just sort of exists. It's where people go when they…well, die. Do you catch my meaning, boy?"

"I'm…dead?" asked Ash.

"Bingo," said Terry, "but it's sort of a grey area. See, not just everybody gets to come here. You gotta be special, really special, to come here. What you do here determines where you go next."

"Where…could I go?" He froze, he had not exactly been the best child.

Terry shrugged. "Here, there. To be honest, they weren't too keen on the specifics when they stuck me here. Just told me to wait for you, to get you to understand what was happening, and to guide you through the Preliminary Trial."

"The Preliminary Trial?"

"Yeppers. See, they got this whole gauntlet-thing set up for you. Not sure why they stuck you in that body, though. That might be your fault. But you gotta pass through it. Otherwise, you're just gonna end up stuck here." He paused for a moment. "Do you catch my meaning?"

Ash slowly nodded. "I think so," he replied.

"Good."

"How did I end up here, though? The last thing I remember was my mom telling me to go to bed last night."

Terry pointed at his skull. "That ain't the last thing you did. Your memories are locked up, not sure why. The Trial should fix that right up."

"And…you're my dad?"

He nodded. "I'm afraid so. Not much of a dad, really, if you think about it. I tried to be there, but something happened to me too. It's why I'm here now. You can call me 'Dad' if you want. 'Terry' works too. Whatever you feel comfortable with. Now come on, we'd better go."

"Wait, one more thing." Ash held up the morpher, which now that he thought about it looked like it was supposed to be worn by someone much bigger than himself. "You need to explain this thing. What's it do?"

Terry looked at it. "That there's an Ailed Morpher, named after your mom. It lets a person change into a superhero, with the right materials. I can tell you that, I think. In the future, you don't grow up to be a Pokemon Master. You grow up into the man who saves the world. Or tried to save the world. Or could save the world. I'm honestly not sure how this is all going to end. I know the head honchos have something cooked up, but nothing's concrete. Nothing's ever concrete."

"I'm a superhero?"

"Yep. The best one. We'll fill in the blanks later, but right now we've gotta go. Can't be standing around. It's very bad to stay in one place for too long."

"Okay, Terry," said Ash. "But one more thing."

Terry was clearly growing impatient, but stomached it and smiled. "And what's that, champ?"

"How did we die?"

Terry blinked. "You sure you wanna know?"

"I want to know if I did good," he said. "I'm not the best kid. Sometimes I don't eat my vegetables and I stay up late. Do those count against you…here?"

Terry chuckled. "You did good, kid. You did better than me. You died trying to save your friends. So did I. But you did it better. You were good. I wasn't…strictly speaking. You were a hero. I was just a guy in a costume."

"Okay, Terry." Ash nodded. "Okay, we can go now."

"Fantastic," said Terry. He led the boy down through the cavern and into an opening that Ash had not noticed before. They walked down, down, down the walkway for what must have been half an hour. Ash kept glancing at Terry.

"I got something funny on my face?" asked Terry.

Ash shook his head. "Just…I never saw a picture of you. I've never seen you before. You're really big."

"Eh, you will be too. Then I won't be quite so big anymore," said Terry. "That's the Ketchum genetics for you. We grow big and tough, even if we start out as runts."

"How did you meet Mom?"

"Ah, that's a great story!" crowed Terry. "She never told you?" Ash shook his head. "We were kids, maybe eighteen or so, and I saw her across the street. Now, most of the time you see people across the street and don't give them a second thought. Not so with that lady, no sir! I jumped across a fence and I sprinted through traffic to get over to her. Almost got hit twice, but it was worth it. I got there just in time to help her across another street, because there was all this mud and water. It rained the night before, but I guess she was wearing some fancy clothes for an interview. I tried to help her across the street, but I got real nervous and I ended up getting us both dirty. Now, most women don't take too kindly to having their fancy clothes ruined, but your mom was something else. She just started laughing and threw some mud at me, and before you know it we're just blocking traffic with a big, fat mud war!"

Ash laughed. "Mom would never do that! She hates when I play in the mud."

"Oh, you'd better believe she did. Threw it all over the place. Got some in my hair, in my pants, on the windshields of some of the cars waiting for us to move. You do some crazy stuff when you're young, boy."

They kept walking, but suddenly stopped when they heard a noise up ahead. Terry put his hand in front of his son and closed his eyes. "It ain't big," he said, "but I don't know what it is." The noise issued again, a low growl this time.

"I've heard that before," said Ash. "I think I've heard that before."

They slowly advanced forward until the walkway expanded into a large, underground grotto filled with trees, grass, and a small pool in the far corner of the room. It was an absolutely impossible room.

"How are all of these trees growing?" asked Ash. "There's no sunlight."

"_…Ash_…" growled whatever lived there.

Something clicked inside Ash's brain. "The Hidden Village," he whispered.

"What?" asked Terry.

"I don't know how I know it, but this is the Hidden Village," he said. "I…I don't understand. I have all these memories and I don't understand how I got them!" He grabbed his head and screamed, as he saw a man with dark skin and fox-eyes, a woman with orange hair, and…

"_Ash_," it growled again. Ash watched as a gigantic Bulbasaur, it must have been four feet tall, easily taller than most Ivysaur he had seen on television and at the matches his mother would take him too. Only something was wrong. Its skin was charred and darkened, with scabs of plant drifting onto the grass. Its bulb looked unhealthy, like it had not seen sunlight in months. Pieces of it were simply gone, replaced with burns and scars. It glared at him with its hate-filled eyes.

"What happened to you, little Bulbasaur?" asked Ash, as he attempted to approach it. It growled and snapped at the air when he tried to reach out to it.

"Ash Ketchum," it snarled, somehow speaking in the human language, and withdrew two vines from each side of its burned body. "Was wondering when you would finally waltz in here." It was clearly breathing heavily, almost as though it had stayed standing just for this moment.

"What's going on?" he asked. "What happened here?"

It screamed and lashed out at him, whipping at his arms and legs. "I'll tell exactly what happened! You took me away from my home, my family, and you didn't even think what would happen to them without me! What would happen when the fires came and burnt the Pokemon I swore to protect! And then you left me to rot, Ash Ketchum, on a farm so you could go off and have your adventures without me, and today is the day you finally get what's coming to you from all of us!"

The Bulbasaur screamed once more, and attacked Ash anew.

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**Author's Note:** Man, that was fun! For those of you perhaps interested in how I'm doing on new chapters, or are interested in my director's cut analysis of fan-fiction and **_PKM Rangers_**, check out my threads on Serebii Forums, Bulbagarden, and Advancers, where I've been posting this story bit by bit in new threads. In addition to checking out some of the older material, you can also enjoy my commentary on some aspects of the story and how I'm progressing on the latest chapter. I'll see you here next month for **Morph Forty-Three: The Abandoned**! Stay tuned!


	43. Morph 43

**Author's Note:** Sorry about the delay. Suffice to say, I've had it really hard in the last few months and have not been in much of a writing mood. It's only been recently that I pulled myself out of my funk (which was caused by my grandfather passing away, adjusting to my new job, and finishing my first year in a PhD program). However, I think I have something for you all today you'll enjoy: a brand new chapter. I don't really know when the next one will be released, as the remaining chapters are so tightly connected I literally have to have the next one ready to double-check for continuity before I post something now.

These next few chapters are probably some of the hardest material I've ever had to write, as I'm continuing to try and push myself in terms of what I can do with this story. Seeing as I'm wrapping up almost seven (or is it eight) years of storytelling, this chapter is as close as we will come to the classic clip show that every season of _Power Rangers_ has. Enjoy!

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**Morph Forty-Three: The Abandoned**

A sudden flash of blinding light shot through Ash's eyes, and he found himself seeing another vision.

—_There was the woman again, with the soft brown hair and loving eyes so beautiful that Ash could not keep himself from staring into. She was holding a baby this time, a little one maybe a month old that was cooing and giggling in her arms. She held out her hands, offering the child to him. He found himself reaching out, wanting to hold the baby, and noticed that the child had the same eyes as he did_—

—Hundreds and hundreds of razor-sharp leaves shot through the trees, severing Ash's connection to the woman and the baby, and jutting him back into reality. The leaves stung like daggers and tore at the exposed skin on his arms and cheeks. He tried to get away, to mitigate the damage as the leaves began tearing through his clothes, when someone much larger than himself grabbed him by his shirt's collar and lifted him up, sweeping under Ash's arms to better carry the boy. Terry made certain his son was secure before he started running as fast as he could deeper into the forest, trying as hard as he could to lose the Bulbasaur in the dense brush.

Ash could still hear it calling out to him; no matter how far they traveled, the Bulbasaur's voice still carried through the trees. "Come back, Ash!" it roared. He could hear it stomping towards them, despite the fact that the creature was too small to be making as much noise as he was hearing. "You can't run away from all of us!"

Ash covered his ears. The beast's screams seemed to penetrate down to the very core of his soul. "I don't understand any of this!" he exclaimed, wrenching his eyes shut as yet another barrage of leaves flitted through the trees, shredding everything in their path. Ash could hear vines and branches snapping off the trees and landing on the ground with audible crashes. Terry avoided a particularly gigantic branch by jumping off to the side and rolling on the ground.

"Well, you kinda need to understand it, boy," said Terry. "Everything here, the forest, the Pokemon, it's all for you. Everything here is some part of you that wasn't finished when you died. It's why you've gotta go through it for the Trial."

They picked themselves up and started running again. "How can all of this be from me? I don't even remember having a Bulbasaur."

"Didn't you say this was the Hidden Village?" asked Terry.

"Yeah, but—"

"—Then you remember some of it. It's all going to come back to you, maybe just not in the right order!"

"Is that why I saw the woman?"

"The who?"

"Ash." Ash and Terry froze, confused as to how the Bulbasaur had suddenly gotten ahead of them and how it could possibly be standing right in front of their very eyes, almost as if it had teleported there. "So, you really don't understand what any of this means, do you?" it asked. "Why don't you try using that brain of yours for once? Maybe it'll come to you."

Ash tried, he really did, as he stared into the dank, hate-filled eyes of the enraged Bulbasaur. The flashes came again, this time a rapid barrage of images that left his mind reeling—

—_He saw a yellow mouse coming out of a Poke Ball with a lightning bolt carved into its surface. He saw himself surrounded by the people he knew in Pallet Town, with his mother holding up a pair of his underwear that he was trying desperately to get away from her. He saw himself riding a bicycle away from an older girl with orange hair and what appeared to be a fairly significant temper. He saw himself walking away from a city with that very same girl, the yellow mouse on his shoulders, and a taller, older boy with tanned skin. He saw snippets and fragments of hundreds, thousands of fights, of battles, that looked so amazingly incredible that they were beyond anything he could have ever dreamed up as he drifted off to sleep in his bed, waiting for the day he could start his Pokemon journey. And then he saw the Bulbasaur, young and healthy, in the Hidden Village. He saw himself catch it, take it with him away from its home to have adventures with him_—

—The visions faded and his mind returned to the forest, where the Bulbasaur waited. "You're…Bulbs," he said, taking in quite a few deep breaths.

Bulbs rolled its eyes. "Oh, he remembers," it said. "Better late than never."

"You're my fourth Pokemon," he said. "I caught you here, you let me. You decided to give me a chance if I won fair and square. And I did. I asked permission, and you let me, so why are you trying to kill me now?"

It snorted and stamped its feet. "You didn't ask permission. You just took. It never matters what a Pokemon says or does, trainers just take us away from our homes. Because we have nothing better to do but waste away our lives until some stupid trainer waltzes up and catches us."

Ash shook his head. "I wouldn't have…I didn't!" he shouted. "I always tried to be a good trainer! I did! I always tried to do what was best for my Pokemon, no matter what."

Bulbs laughed. "Do you really think trainers want what's best for their Pokemon? Really? Then why aren't trainers shut in Poke Balls just like we are, Ash? The reality is that trainers just want our power for our own. Humans are jealous of Pokemon!"

"I love Pokemon!" Ash shouted, drowning out Bulbs' screams. "I have ever since I can remember!" The Bulbasaur charged at him again. Ash raised his arms to shield his face from the barrage of leaves he was certain would be coming, but Terry dove in front of him to grab the twin vines that poked out of Bulbs' bulb and held them fast. Bulbs gnashed with its fangs, but Terry refused to yield and tossed Bulbs out of the grove and into another section of trees in the distance.

"You're gonna have to fight, boy," Terry said as he turned back towards his son. "This Trial business isn't exactly a place for the faint of hearted. Come on, you've gotta know how to fight somewhere in there. You're a big-time superhero. That sort of stuff doesn't exactly go away. There should be some muscle memory left in you or something."

Ash looked at his hands. "I haven't fought anyone since Gary and I stopped being friends," he muttered. "I…I don't know how to fight."

Terry reached down and cupped his son's hands into fists. "You know how to make those, don't you? You know how to kick, right?"

Ash nodded. "I can, but—"

"Then that's half the fight right there," said Terry. "A fight's not some fancy killer move. A fight's dirty, a fight's mean. You've got to be willing to do more damage than the person you're up against, because they're not going to give you time to talk them out of it. If you can get tough, get strong, and be willing to do whatever it takes to survive, you can win a fight. And you've gotta relearn that lesson fast, because these Pokemon are here for a reason. You brought the Bulbasaur and who knows what else here because of something you were afraid of when you were alive."

Ash followed his father through the forest, trying as always to stay one step ahead of Bulbs. "But why would I imagine one of my Pokemon trying to kill me?" he asked himself. "It doesn't make sense. I was always a good trainer. I loved and respected my Pokemon, or at least I did in the pieces I can remember. What could I have possibly been afraid of?"

"How am I supposed to know?" asked Terry. "They didn't exactly fill me in on what the Trial was for when I got sent here for it. There has to be a reason for it, though. Did you ever hurt a Pokemon in your life?"

Ash shook his head. "I couldn't have, but then again I don't even remember half my life. How am I supposed to answer? All I can remember is that I loved Pokemon, and I still do. And from what I can remember, I always respected them. I'd never hurt them on purpose, and even in fights I made sure to put them first, no matter how much I wanted to win. I just can't see how I'd ever hurt a Pokemon, so that's why I can't understand why my mind would make some form of Bulbs that would be so angry with me."

They heard some sort of strange popping noise behind them, and then turned to watch as a desolate cloud of purple fog started wafting up from the forest floor. "PoisonPowder!" shouted Terry, as the particles of purple spores started to settle onto their clothes. "Cover your mouth with whatever you've got, don't breathe any of it in!"

Ash did as he was told and stuffed his face into his shirt collar. Just then, he felt something collide with his abdomen and force all the air out of his chest and throw him to the ground. Ash could not help but gasp on instinct, but then retreated into his collar as Terry suggested. Bulbs stood between the two of them, snarling at Ash anew.

"Come on, Ash," it said. "Fight me again. See if you can win on your own this time, without little Pi to help you."

"Pi…?" There was another flash, of a bright yellow rodent biting into an apple, and then the Bulbasaur was upon him. Ash panicked, and his reflexes took over. He contracted his legs and his arms underneath the Bulbasaur, and then launched it off of him. Ash quickly recovered his footing, and by then the purple poison had settled over the ground. He knew some of it had gotten in him, he was certain of it, but not enough to bring him down.

Not understanding why, he crouched down and picked up a nearby branch that had been lopped off during one of Bulbs' previous attacks and gripped it firmly in his hand like a makeshift sword. Bulbs grinned savagely at the sight and charged, whipping up its vines in a frenzy of motion.

Ash parried, somehow, the first blow and got behind the Bulbasaur, jabbing the pointed end of his stick into its hide. It roared with relish and bit into Ash's leg, making the boy scream. He should have fainted from the pain. He remembered how he had cried for a day when he had fallen out of a tree when he was much younger, but as he watched the blood start to trickle out of him all he could think of was how it reminded him that he was alive. He might not have been, technically speaking, but this fight was just as real as anything he had faced in his life.

He had another, sudden flash, this time of a golden suit of armor opening up to reveal a tall, tall man that looked so similar to Terry.

He twisted his leg out from the Bulbasaur's grasp and shoved it onto its side to briefly immobilize it. Its vines grasped out to secure anything for Bulbs to recover its footing, but Ash drove the branch into it and it lost its grip. It groaned, while time and time again Ash screamed that he was sorry, for the Bulbasaur to please stop.

Finally, the Bulbasaur raised its head and roared, "Blast him to smithereens!"

Ash looked up at Terry, unsure exactly whom Bulbs was speaking to. An instant later, a bright orange flash of fire shot through the forest thicket, almost striking Ash in the head and leaving a smoldering hole in the trunk of a tree not two feet away. Ash froze, and he turned to see the faint outline of a tall monkey in the distance, belching fire out from the gape of its maw.

Ash had another series of flashes, this time centered round a particular orange monkey. "Infern," he muttered. "Fire. We've gotta go." He turned to Terry, who nodded in agreement. They left the Bulbasaur to scream as they moved further and further away from the monkey.

Ash looked at his hands. "Terry, how'd I know how to fight like that?" he asked. "I've never fought like that before."

Terry grinned. "Like I told you, boy: muscle memory! Nothing better for an amnesiac!"

They kept running, but eventually they ran out of room and the monkey leapt down to the ground in front of them. Its body, like the Bulbasaur's, was horribly mangled by some unseen incident. Meat had been stripped from its body, leaving bones exposed to the elements of the forest. It looked malnourished, too, with a slim belly and almost no muscle left.

"A-Ash," it growled out of its rotting maw, "you finally made it."

Ash felt sick just to look at it. He did not understand…how could he possibly be responsible for this? "What happened to you?" he asked. "What've I done?"

"You should have left me to rot, Ash," said Infern. "You should have let me go off when Paul released me so I could die with some dignity. But you didn't. You just _had_ to take me, had to have me, so I could keep fighting and fighting. But what if I didn't want to fight? What if I just wanted to huddle into a little ball and go away? You never thought about anyone but yourself, Ash."

"You never did, Ash," said Bulbs, who had suddenly appeared from behind one of the nearby trees. "You never cared about us at all. All you ever cared about was catching us all, wasn't it? We weren't friends to you. We were numbers on a checklist."

Ash shook his head. "That can't possibly be true," he replied. "I would never treat my friends like numbers. You're lying!"

Infern laughed. "He thinks we're lying, Bulbs? Doesn't he know we're nothing more than what's in _his_ head? We're not capable of lying!"

"Face it, Ash," said Bulbs. "We're nothing more than echoes of your own fears."

"Boyo, better do something!" warned Terry. "Looks like it's time for round two."

Ash looked from the Pokemon to Terry then back again. "I don't want to fight," he whispered. "I just wanted to make friends."

"We're not giving you a choice!" screamed Infern, who then immediately spat up and launched a ball of fire at a patch of grass directly in front of its trainer. The ground sizzled and warmed Ash's skin.

He cracked his knuckles. "Muscle memory, muscle memory," he murmured, as the two Pokemon sprung towards him. There was a flash, a thousand small, sharp images of a man with golden armor fighting through a plethora of foes, monsters ranging from a man in blue to a blog of white. He saw a thousand punches, hundreds of kicks, and the exact combination of techniques that could secure him victory.

He shifted forward suddenly, jabbing Infern directly in the trachea. The monkey gagged on a fireball it had waiting in its throat and started choking. He grabbed Infern and used it as a shield from the hundreds of leaves that filled the air and tried to stab him. Infern groaned, and Ash punched it directly in the center of its shoulders, right down its spine, where its fire glands were located. Infern wheezed and coughed up smoke.

"You're neutralized," Ash said, in a voice that did not sound like a ten-year-old, and conked Infern on the head. It collapsed in a heap. Ash watched as its body turned into a bright, red glow and it shrank, condensed, into a small red ball on the ground. Bulbs screamed.

"Grab that ball!" shouted Terry from the background. Ash nodded and, no longer demonstrating independent thought, tucked into a roll and swiped up the ball just before Bulbs managed to grab it with its vines. "Put it in the morpher!"

Ash nodded and shifted the ball to the device strapped to his wrist. To his surprise, it opened up to reveal a docking mechanism that looked like it would hold a compressed Poke Ball. Ash inserted Infern's ball and the device abruptly shut, apparently running some sort of scan from the strange noises it was making.

"_Auxiliary Pokemon System activated—Nape Form registered_," said an odd, mechanized voice that sounded almost exactly like Terry. _"Torch Mask installed_."

"What's going—" Ash stopped talking because a gigantic mask clamped itself onto his mouth and secured itself onto his neck. It looked suspiciously like an Infernape's mouth and nose, leaving his cheeks and eyes free. "What's going—" He had to stop talking again, because a giant stream of fire simply erupted when he tried to speak.

Ash looked incredulously at Terry, who simply shrugged. Bulbs looked none too happy at the development. Its face contorted into a mask of fear.

"Y-You think you can bully me into coming with you again?" it asked. "Well, you're wrong! You're wrong!" It shook its head and started charging up its bulb in preparation for a SolarBeam. What remained of its brown, cracking leaves started glowing with brilliant energy.

"Get down, boy!" shouted Terry.

Ash shook his head. His body took over and he crouched, before breaking out into a full run towards the glowing Bulbasaur.

"You're dead, Ash!" it screamed, as it pointed its bulb directly at its trainer and fired.

Ash saw the blast coming as if it were in slow motion. His body jerked, and twisted, dodging to the right just before the blast connected. He landed on one knee, and shouted in victory. Fire seared out of his mask and bathed the Bulbasaur in searing heat.

Bulbs screamed and the SolarBeam blast ended abruptly. It fell to the ground, with only faint twitches to indicate it was still alive. Ash stood up and slowly approached it.

It twisted its head towards him, and managed to spit at his feet. "You're all alone, Ash," it whispered. "You'll always be all alone. It's why you never let us go."

Ash, without thinking, tapped the button on his morpher and Infern's ball popped out. The mask vanished in a puff of red energy, leaving him free to speak again. "I never hurt you," he said. "I know you think I did, but I would never hurt my friends. If you were my friend, I never hurt either of you, and I'm sorry I had to now."

The Bulbasaur blinked. Then, in a faint voice, it whispered, "You have to remember, Ash. You have to remember why you're afraid." Then its body shifted, just like Infern's, into nothing but a ball of energy, before it became a dark green orb on the forest floor. Ash picked it up and, along with Infern's, clipped it to his belt.

"What did it mean?" he asked. "Why would I be afraid my Pokemon?"

Terry came up and shrugged. "There's no real way of knowing what it meant, boy," he said. "Not really. It's a piece of you, a reflection formed from the pieces of your mind scattered around this Trial. It only knows a piece of the puzzle."

"It knew I was afraid," said Ash. "I think it was right. I am scared, but I don't know what I'm scared of." He looked up at Terry. "Is that what the Trial's trying to test me on? Me figuring out what I'm scared of?"

Terry shrugged. "Could be. Lots of adulthood rites of passage deal with facing some big fear. Maybe yours is figuring that out."

"But I still don't—" Something shot through him and forced him to the ground. His face contorted in pain, and he felt like every piece of him and ripping apart. Through his blurred vision, he saw the two Poke Balls levitate off his belt and, seamlessly, merge into his body. The pain continued for what seemed like an eternity, and then it faded away just as quickly as it began.

"Boy," Terry breathed, as Ash got back to his feet. "Boy, you—"

"What?" asked Ash, and then paused. He sounded different. He looked at Terry, who now seemed only a little bit taller than Ash. "What just happened?"

He looked himself over. His clothes were shredded, and his body had changed. He was not ten anymore, he looked so much older. He still felt young, though, as he stepped out of the tattered remnants of his shoes. His socks were shredded too, and he curled his toes on the soft grass of the forest floor.

"Boyo, I'm pretty sure that was the mother of all growth spurts," said Terry. "You look like a man now. Not quite full grown, but old enough to win the fights you start."

Ash ripped open his collared shirt and tore off the bottoms of his jeans, leaving him looking quite ragged indeed. "You said I was about thirty, right?" he asked.

"About there, give or take a few years," said Terry.

"I don't think I'm thirty yet. I feel older, but not a lot older. I think I'm closer to eighteen or nineteen. I remember those birthdays. I remember—" He stopped, and thought. "The Pokemon. They don't just represent my fears. They're my memories too. If I find all of the memories in here and recapture them, maybe I'll grow back into my adult body."

"Stands to reason, based on what we know," said Terry. "Better find the rest of them, then."

As if in response, a gigantic section of the forest seemed to simply melt away. The shrubs folded into the grass and the trees faded away to reveal a large building that appeared as if from nowhere. Ash blinked, not quite sure if it was real, but Terry started to move towards it and he followed. When they reached the doors, they slid open and an old man in a wheelchair rolled himself outside to greet them.

Ash could barely believe it. "P-Professor Oak?" he asked.

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Samuel Oak had changed since Ash had last seen him. The full, robust white hair on his head had faded to grey, with little of it left adorning his head. His body was frail and thin, with nothing of the stocky frame of the man that had given him Pikachu that day all those years ago. A hand riddled with wrinkles stretched itself out shakily.

"Why, hello Ash," murmured Professor Oak. For all the differences in his appearance, no matter how old he now seemed, he still sounded distinctly like the professor. He had such a warm expression on his face, as he lifted his other hand to readjust his spectacles. "It is you, isn't it? Though you've grown…I could have sworn you were only ten. Is it time for you to get your first Pokemon already?" He tried to get up from his chair, but he faltered and remained seated. "I can't believe it, boy. You've grown up so fast, young man. It's amazing. You're already old enough to start your Pokemon journey. Sunrise, sunset, eh?"

Ash shook Oak's hand, though admittedly in a bit of a daze. "P-Professor Oak," he said. "Why are you here?"

The old man smiled. "Where else would I be, Ash? This is my lab. Come inside, I think Tracey will be able to rustle us up a cup of tea." He wheeled himself around and led Ash and Terry into his laboratory. "I see you found Terry out there. I always wondered when he'd turn up."

Ash looked at Terry. "You knew Professor Oak?" he asked.

Terry nodded. "Sure. Everybody knows him. He was at my wedding."

"I know I have that kettle somewhere," said Oak absent-mindedly, fumbling around for shelves he could not reach in the kitchen. Ash reached over and helped Oak grab a kettle and some mugs, and Oak busied himself with heating up the water.

"Now, where was I?" Oak wondered aloud. "Ah yes, the matter of the Pokemon. Tell me, which were you thinking of getting: Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur?"

"Uh, actually—"

"It's unwise to be hesitant on the first Pokemon you select," Oak interrupted. "After all, the Pokemon you choose says so much about you. Come to think of it, so do all the Pokemon you befriend, but the first one is the most important! It sets the tone for your whole life with Pokemon, boy! Now which one?"

Ash shook his head. "None of them, Professor. You gave me my first Pokemon a long time ago. Remember Pi?"

Oak's face scrunched up. "Pi? Hmmm…it rings a bell, I think. I'll be honest, the old memory's not what it used to be. I don't seem to remember much these days."

Ash turned to Terry. "What's wrong with him?" he asked, pointing at Oak. "Why's he acting like this? Why can't he remember anything?"

"He's an actual echo," said Terry. "See me? I'm independent, almost same as you. I am who I am. Oak's dead and gone, boy. What's here is what you constructed, remember? That goes for the people too. Oak might not remember everything because of how you remembered him, or because of your last moments with him, or any number of things. We are who we're remembered to be after we're gone."

"But Oak was brilliant. He was this amazing mentor to me and I turned him into this?"

"You didn't turn him into nothing. This isn't Oak. Just another shade, like the Bulbasaur and the Infernape. Only this one doesn't want to kill you. Or, at least, not yet. Doesn't look like he's in much shape to do much killing anymore."

The kettle started hissing, a bit sooner than Ash expected. "What are you two jabbering about?" Oak asked, as he poured three mugs of tea out of the kettle. "Come, come. Sit with me and talk."

Ash and Terry both took their mugs and followed Oak down the hall into his study. Along the way, Ash turned and looked at one of the photos on the wall.

"Professor…is that me?" he asked. He bent over to examine it further. It was him, all right. He had to have been about fifteen when the picture was taken. It was, despite how impossible the picture was, him, Bulbs, Infern, Butterfree, Pi, Muk, and Squirt, all standing in a row smiling.

Oak stopped and peered up at the picture. "That one? Oh, I've no idea who that is. Too many trainers come through here, I can hardly be expected to remember all of them. Could be you, I suppose. Hair looks a little off, though."

Oak resumed his roll towards his study. "How does he not remember me?" Ash whispered to Terry. "I was one of his favorites."

Terry shrugged. "He probably would, if it was him. Why not ask why you'd remember him not remembering you? Does it scare you?"

Ash did not know how to answer that. "I just…figured Professor Oak would remember me," he admitted. "We spent a lot of time working together."

"He probably had a lot of other trainers he looked after. I'm sure it's that."

"Yeah…" Ash turned away and sat next to Oak on a couch in the study. Terry joined them.

"So, Ash, what brings you all the way to my neck of the woods?" asked Oak. "Haven't been seeing a whole lot of you lately. Your mom feeding you okay?"

"Are you stalling him?" asked another voice.

Ash and Terry turned around to see a strangely familiar face standing behind them. The man smiled and shifted his glasses before he sat down in a chair on the other side of the room. The somewhat-heavyset man declined Oak's offer for tea.

"Stalling?" asked Oak. "No, dear boy. I'm simply catching up with an old chum." He turned to Ash. "What did you two say your names were?"

The man raised his hand before Ash could speak. "0, listen to me: you need to get out of here right now. It isn't safe to stay in one place for too long."

Ash blinked. "Who's '0'? Who are you?"

"Bakaguru Niwa," he replied. "You don't remember me yet. You will shortly, but right now you need to run."

"But we're in Oak's lab. How are we not safe?"

Bakaguru turned to Oak. "Because this world is trying to make you comfortable. It's giving you something familiar after a trauma to increase the likelihood that you'll lower your guard. It gave you tea. It's getting ready for another attack."

"I have no idea what he's talking about," said Oak. "How did you get in here, Mr. Niwa? I don't recall inviting you in."

"You didn't," said Bakaguru, and then he pointed at Ash. "He did. This is his world, he must have recreated me."

"Why would I do that?" asked Ash. "I don't even remember you."

Bakaguru shrugged. "Your memories are still locked away, 0. You created this building, and this old man, for some sense of comfort against whatever you're being forced to face here. However, you still seem to have you memories, as evidenced by the fact that you could summon me here to remind you of the truth of this place even if you can't remember me."

Terry smiled. "Figures I'd run into you again."

Bakaguru returned the smile, but it faded from his lips quickly. "I'm still dead, old friend, somewhere out there. This is just a copy. Your son merely remembers the fact that I would be smart enough to realize that fact."

Ash looked from Terry to Bakaguru to Oak. His head started to ache. "I just—" He paused, utterly uncertain of what it was he could possibly want.

"Don't you want to see May again?" asked Bakaguru.

Ash's mind flashed again and—

—_"So," said the doctor, as he removed his gloves, "have you thought of any names for the baby?" He tossed his gloves into the trash._

_ Ash was suspended, floating in the air, watching a couple that looked so much like his mother and Terry in a doctor's office._

_ "He gets to name the baby," said his mother, pointing towards Terry. "Direct questions related to that to him."_

_ Terry laughed. "I've thought of a few, but I'm not sure which I should put more emphasis into checking out. I decided that, if it's a girl, we'd name her Sarah, after my late grandmother."_

_ "That's lovely," said the doctor._

_ Terry's face turned red. "Man, I really wish I knew what our kid's gonna be." Delia pulled on Terry's sleeve and he grinned. "It's only so I could know whether to buy a red or pink Pokedex for the little guy or gal."_

_ "Let it be a surprise, darling," she said._

_ The doctor picked up a chart and started jotting down a few notes. "And if it's a boy?" he asked._

_ "Well, I was thinking maybe Ash, after my favorite story."_

_ "Really?" asked the doctor. "What story?"_

_ "This old—"_

Ash flinched as he jolted back to reality. His blurry eyes saw Terry and Bakaguru, but they faded just as quickly. He saw the doctor's office again—

_—"Ash, please pay attention to the monitor," said the woman with the brown hair._

_ "Huh?" he asked. "Oh, yeah. Just not sure where to look, May. I mean, where's the baby supposed to be?"_

_ "Right here," said another voice, a different doctor. She pointed to a section of the black screen that was moving. "Here's the baby's heartbeat."_

_ Ash leaned in closer. "It looks like some sort of blinking dot," he said._

_ "I'm going to tell the baby that was your first description of her," said May with a smile._

_ He chuckled. "She's a beautiful dot, May," he replied._

_ "Have you thought about names yet?" asked the doctor. She switched off the monitor and tossed her gloves into the trash._

_ Ash and May looked at each other. "Uh, my mom suggested Sarah. That's apparently the name they were going to give me if I turned out to be a girl."_

_ "Oh, I like that—"_

Ash's vision returned abruptly. He was on his knees, cringing, with his heads against his throbbing temples. He could see Bakaguru reaching down to help him up, but before anyone could reach him, Ash's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he started hallucinating again. Another series of scenes tore through his mind and he screamed anew.

_"—Pikachu," he said, his voice quite suddenly dry. "To me!" He watched as a yellow mouse scaled his body and perched itself onto his shoulder. "Pi…" He could feel his heart racing all over again. "We've got to do it again, Pi. We have to save them." At this, the mouse leapt off him and they stood opposite each other, as equals. "Pi, this time there won't be any going back. You'll be…" His head lowered, they stared into each other's eyes. "Will you become my Morphing Spirit again? Will you fuse with me once more—?"_

_ —He was on the ground, a woman with white hair was hugging him. "Pwease…Baby? Pwease be a ranger for little Serena—?"_

_ —He was standing in a church. Across from him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. "You may now kiss the bride," said someone from afar—_

"Ash, snap out of it!" He felt someone slap him in the face and he opened his eyes. He was sitting on the couch again, with Bakaguru and Terry standing over him.

"What's happening to him?" asked Terry.

"His mind is tearing down the walls it built to protect him," said Bakaguru. "He's remembering pieces, fragments, of the life that led to his death. It's an inevitable part of the journey, but it's the hardest. It's why I'm here. The Trial constructed this building and Oak to calm him, thinking it would give him respite, tempting him to not go on. He forced me, or this shadow of me, to manifest so he could snap out of it and tear down those walls." He turned to Terry and gave a sad smile. "It's a very painful thing, to see every decision you ever made, and know that no matter how happy or how beautiful those memories were, somehow they all contributed to your demise."

Ash's eyes darted back and forth, reliving every moment he had ever known.

—_"Isn't she beautiful, Ash?" asked May, as he held his daughter for the first time—_

_ —"You're already in Viridian City? It took your father four days to get there when he started Pokemon training. Oh, he'll be so proud—!"_

_ "—Why'd you stop using your name?" asked Brock. "Why not be you—?"_

_ "—I don't want to go, I don't want to go—"_

Ash screamed and clutched his head. He felt himself being lifted up by two strong hands and dragged to his feet. When he opened his eyes, he saw Terry and Bakaguru, waiting.

"Do you remember?" asked Bakaguru.

He took several deep breaths before he finally nodded. "Everything," he whispered. "I saw it all. I saw who I became. I saw how I changed. I saw why I—I—"

"Died," finished Bakaguru. "But do you understand why it all happened? What started you on the path that led to your death? The revelation that might yet help save your family?"

Ash shook his head. "It's still cloudy. It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't see it."

Bakaguru shrugged. "Just remember, you never walked this road alone. Someone was always there, even if someone wasn't."

"What does that mean?" asked Ash.

Bakaguru shrugged again. "You figure it out, boy. I'm not here to do your work for you."

"We need to get out of here," Terry suggested. "The Trial's running out of time."

Ash felt something grab his shirt and turned around. It was Oak, straining in the confines of his wheelchair, who held him back. "Stay," Oak whispered. "Stay and be safe. No more fear, no more anger. Just peace. You don't have to go back if you're too afraid."

Ash hesitated. Oak grabbed him by the arm, pulling closer to him. Then, Ash did something he did not expect. He recoiled from the shade, twisting away and stood beside Terry and Bakaguru.

"I have to go," he decided. "They're all waiting for me."

Oak screamed, and faded away right before their eyes. So did the study, and the building, until finally Ash, Terry, and Bakaguru found themselves back in the forest. There was a hanging ball of energy, right where Oak had been sitting, just like what had happened to his Pokemon. It floated there for a moment, before it wafted over and melted into Ash's chest.

"Goodbye, Professor Oak," Ash whispered, and he bowed his head in respect. Even if it had been just a shadow of the man who had started him out on his journey, it was still hard to say goodbye again. He lifted his head and turned to Bakaguru and Terry. "Am I almost done?"

"Very nearly," said Bakaguru. "When I go, there will be one, final battle. Then you will face Judgment. That's the way it must be. Don't falter, and don't hesitate, or you'll be trapped. Do you understand?"

Ash nodded.

"Then goodbye, boy." Bakaguru turned to Terry. "Hope to see you someday." He too faded into a ball, and vanished inside Ash's chest just as Oak had.

Ash felt his body change again, but not quite as substantially this time. He felt lines crease onto his face, his muscles grow, until he finally stood as his father's equal. He opened his eyes, they felt so tired, but he pushed that thought away and cleared his throat.

"Let's go," he said, in a voice that sounded so different from the child and the teenager he had been.

Terry nodded. "Lead the way, boss."

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They walked through the forest for what seemed like hours, until finally they came to a stop near a small stream. Ash bent down and washed his face in the cool water. As he rubbed his eyes, he heard a set of wings fluttering behind him. He rose, slowly, to face the unknown threat.

It had been so long since he had seen it, he almost did not recognize it. Its white wings. Its purple-blue body. Its red eyes. "Butterfree," he whispered.

"Hello, Ash," it said. Its voice sounded faint and full of sorrow. "You remember me, don't you?"

"Of course," Ash replied. "How could I forget you? Are you…here to attack me?"

The Butterfree shook its body. "No, how could I? The others were so angry, so afraid." It lowered its head. "All I am is sad."

"Sad?"

"You made me go away, Ash," it said softly. "You told me to go and be happy, far, far away from you. But all I ever wanted was to be by your side, just like Pikachu. Why did you make me leave? Why did you make me grow up, and not the others?"

"I…" Ash could see it in his mind, as clear as day. Misty, telling him it was almost out of sight. Brock, telling him to be brave. And something else, something he could not put his finger on. "I just wanted you to be happy. I thought you would be happier with the pink Butterfree than you would be with me."

The Butterfree's eyes were welling up with tears. "How could you think anyone would be happier away from you, Ash? You've done so much good. Anyone would be lucky to know you."

Ash felt a tear on his own cheek. "I'm not that great. I wasn't that great of a dad, if you really look at it. I constantly kept putting the Pokemon I did keep at risk. I put my family in danger and, now, I can't even be there to help them when they really need me."

He felt Terry's hand on his shoulder. "We need to keep moving, Ash. Don't forget, it's still a shade of some part of you. Use it to learn what the Trial's trying to show you, then move on. You'll never be able to convince it you're right because it belongs to the dark pieces of your heart that you won't admit you have."

"I don't have—"

"—Everybody does," Terry insisted. "But not many people get a chance to learn from those pieces. Don't take this opportunity for granted, you _need_ to learn this lesson."

"But I—"

"He can't see it," said the Butterfree. "He really can't. How could he?" It turned to Terry. "It's something that's welled up inside him for so long that he doesn't even remember it's there." It returned its gaze to Ash. "You need to think, Ash. You need to remember what changed your life, what made you the person you were in life."

Ash thought. "I guess…deciding to become a Pokemon Trainer? I mean, that's what I wanted to do for as long as I can remember."

The Butterfree nodded. "Why was that?" it asked. "What made you decide that was the life you wanted?"

"It was—Look, how could you not want to be a Pokemon Trainer? It's literally the best kind of job someone could have. It makes you smarter, tougher, and helps you become an adult. I didn't need a reason to become a Pokemon Trainer, I just _was one_."

"But didn't someone inspire you to go out and do it?" asked the Butterfree.

"I—"

—_He saw his mother looking down on him. She looked so much younger than he had ever seen her. "Come on," she said. She had that soft smile on her face, the same smile she always had whenever he left her for another big adventure. "We're heading back home."_

_ Ash tilted his head, confused. "Who were we supposed to see here?" he asked._

_ She pointed to a man sitting next to her, a heavyset man with a face Ash could not remember. "This man here."_

_ Ash now turned to the man. "Hi, minster," he said, remembering how his mother has always told him to be polite to strangers. "Are you sick?"_

_ The man chuckled. "Not really," he replied. "I'm here to see a friend of mine."_

_ Ash's eyes widened. "Are they sick?"_

_ The man shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. We'll have to wait and see."_

_ Satisfied, Ash nodded his head. "Okay. Mommy, I wanna go home now."_

_ His mother got up off the bench she had been sitting on. "Okay sweetie," she said. Before they left, she turned to the man. "Goodbye."_

_ He offered her a slight grin. "Until next time. Hopefully there will be something soon."_

_ "Hopefully," said his mother. And then they left—_

—When Ash's vision returned, he was on his knees in front of the Butterfree.

"Did you see it?" it asked.

"See what? I'm not sure I—"

"You need to pay attention," demanded the Butterfree. "Otherwise you'll never get out of here—"

_"—I wanna be a Pokemon trainer, just like you—"_

Ash covered his head and groaned. "I don't wanna think about it," he whispered. "I don't wanna—"

"You _need_ to," whispered the Butterfree. "You need to look into that pit you dug and buried all that anger, all that fear, and all that sadness. It's the only way to save yourself."

The Butterfree started to glow. Its body began vanishing, just as the others had. "Please," it whispered. "Don't leave them all behind like you did with me."

"Butterfree, I—" It was too late. It was gone. In its place sat the last glowing orb of light, which floated up and melted into him. Ash screamed in agony as the last bits of him finally came together and, when he stood up, he was himself. He was a man, a father, a husband, a hero.

But he was still dead.

"Butterfree, I'm so sorry," he whispered. He tried so hard to fight back the tears, but his grief overcame him and he fell to his knees again "I just can't see it. I just can't see it."

He felt Terry's hand on his shoulder. "Come on," he said. "We need to keep moving."

"But what if I fail?" asked Ash. "What if I went through all of this and I get nothing to show for it? What if I can't save them, and all of this was just a nightmare I never escaped from?"

Terry crouched down next to him. He gently took Ash's face and turned it to look into his eyes. "Listen to me, boy," he said. "You're right. There is a chance you could still fail. That this was for nothing. You'll lose, your family will die, and the world will end. All that could still happen even if you do make it all the way to the end."

"Then what's the point of trying?" asked Ash.

"If you don't try," said Terry, "then there's no chance anymore. You'll lose, right now. Everyone will die. There won't be another chance like this one ever again. If you don't try, you'll lose right now, but if you do, then at least there's hope. However small it might be, there's still hope that the day can be saved, and isn't _that _worth the pain? Isn't that worth trying for? Not the certainty of success, but the certainty that you fought until the very last straw to save them? That no matter how hard it was, that even knowing you might still fail, you kept going until the end, and even then you still tried?

"Isn't your family worth that?" he asked. "Isn't your world worth that?"

Ash finally looked up from the ground and into his father's eyes. "You tried," he mumbled. "You failed. And now I'm supposed to do something you couldn't do? I'm supposed to try, when you couldn't try hard enough to come back to us?"

Terry nodded fiercely. "Son, you're a million times stronger than me. You have the power to save the world, and you don't even know why." He took his finger and jabbed right at Ash's chest, right at his heart. "You traveled the world. You met everyone you could. You could still fail, yeah. You could still lose, and everything would be lost. But tell me something?"

"What?"

"Did that ever stop you before?" Terry asked. "You've beaten the odds so many times, you've fought so hard for so long, and you've always come out on top. Just because it was impossible didn't mean you stopped trying. So come on! What's another fight for the Ketchums? What's another impossible fight for Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town?"

Terry paused, waiting for Ash's response. His son sat on the ground for a while, trying to muster up some kind of response. Ash took a deep breath, gulped at the air, and then finally stood up. He met his father's gaze.

"You're right," he said. "After everything I lived through, what's one more impossible fight?" He stepped forward. "Let's finish this."

He and Terry kept walking.

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Eventually, the forest faded away, and the only thing left was the glimmering cave.

"I think we made it," said Ash. "Wherever this is."

Terry whistled. "I think so too, boy. You got all your memories back?"

Ash nodded. "I think so. I mean, I think I remember everything I did right up until I died." He paused, scrunching up his face. "I'm supposed to learn something from all of this. Something that'll let me pass this Trial and get home. Something to do with my anger, fear, and sadness. Something that made me the way that I was."

Terry nodded. "You've got all the pieces. Now I guess all you've gotta do is put them together."

Absentmindedly, Ash reached up and grabbed his shirt. He was quite sure something was supposed to be hanging from his neck. "What's at the end of the Trial, Terry?"

Terry took a deep breath. "Hard to say, boy. It's different for everyone, I think. When I tried it, I didn't do so hot. I might not be the best person to ask about it."

"How did you fail?"

"I…I answered the question wrong. Everybody gets to answer a question. Everybody gets a chance. But, and here's the part you've gotta pay attention to, it's really hard to see that dark part of you that you buried. We've all got some demon that wormed its way into us a long time ago, and that's what He asks about. To finish, you've gotta accept everything about yourself. It's not enough to just go in and say you lived a good life, that you deserve more time. Lots of people live good lives. Everyone thinks they deserve more time. They want to hold their families again. They want to keep doing what they were doing. They're scared of what's gonna happen to them after they're judged."

"Were you scared?"

"I was. I tried so hard to answer, but I couldn't see what it was I was supposed to learn. I was in the same boat you're in. Mind you, didn't have quite as much at stake as you did, but I goofed. I messed up, but He still needed me. Didn't have to be me that got sent back, He said, so He pulled together everything that had ever been me and, somehow, the Golden Ranger clawed out of my bones and I got locked away. Nothing to be done about it." He turned to Ash. "Don't let that be you, boy. You don't know what it's like, watching your child grow up and wanting to hold out your arm and touch him, knowing that who you became would never allow it to happen."

"The Golden Ranger always told me there was something bigger out there for me," said Ash. His mind drifted, thinking of the last days he had had with the Golden Ranger—

_ "—You will never be a Ranger," said 0, "unless you can learn to embrace the mask's darkness. You will never hope to become what you want to be. That is why the nightmares come—"_

"—He wasn't my father, was he?" asked Ash.

Terry shrugged. "Maybe on some level, he thought he was. He was given this mission, maybe I could've pulled it off, but he got the mission. But _I'm_ your father. He was just a shadow of who I was, something that survived to finish the mission."

Ash looked at the morpher on his wrist. "The mission? To make me a ranger? Was that was it was all about?"

Terry shook his head. "Bigger, but we'll come to that. Not my place to explain it. We're here."

"We are?" Ash looked around. They were still in the cavern. Though he was certain they had been walking for hours, the entire place was riddled with déjà vu and he could have sworn he had just been in this very cavern earlier.

"We are." Terry pointed to the center of the cavern. "Look."

Ash did. He let out a sharp yelp. In the center stood the Golden Ranger, except that it was not. It looked enough like him, but there was no emblem in the center of his chest. There was also, interestingly, no body underneath his golden armored plates. The plates themselves were adorned with some ancient text Ash could not read. The figure seemed to be waiting for them.

"What's happening?" asked Ash, suddenly.

The figure shifted, looking at Terry. It nodded its head once. Terry returned the gesture, and reached into his pocket.

"It's time, boy."

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**Author's Note: **_PKM Rangers_ will continue in **Morph Forty-Four: Ignite or Die!** Stay turned!


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